EXCLUSIVE: Alexander Payne has attached to direct a re-imagining of Babette’s Feast, the 1988 Oscar-winning Danish Film which Gabriel Axel wrote and directed from a story by Karen Blixen.

The project was set up by Unique Features, the production shingle that former New Line founder Bob Shaye created with his late partner Michael Lynne. Shaye will produce with Jennifer Wachtell under the Unique banner. The script will be written by Guy Branum, whose credits include The Other Two and The Mindy Project. Benni Korzen and Josi Konski will also produce.

The film will be set in a religious community in small-town Minnesota, where two older, unmarried sisters accept a refugee, who leads them to confront their regrets, over an extraordinary meal. It sounds right in the wheelhouse of Payne, Oscar winner for The Descendants and Sideways.

Payne is repped by CAA; Branum is managed by OmniPop Talent Group’s Zack Freedman. Mickey Schiff will oversee for Unique.