Stephen King’s novella The Gingerbread Girl has been optioned by U.S. production and distribution outfit Brainstorm Media, which plans to distribute the film in North America. Mimi Steinbauer’s Radiant Films International is launching foreign sales efforts on the thriller in Cannes.

Frequent King collaborator Craig R. Baxley will direct the film from a screenplay written by King and Baxley. Mitchell Galin will produce. Casting is currently underway.

Baxley has previously directed the King adaptations Storm of the Century, The Triangle, Kingdom Hospital and Rose Red, while Galin produced the adaptations of King’s Pet Sematary, The Stand, Thinner, The Night Flier, Creepshow 2, The Langoliers and Golden Years.

The Gingerbread Girl originally appeared in Esquire magazine, and was later included in King’s 2008 collection of stories Just After Sunset. The story focuses on Emily, a woman recovering from a recent loss in a secluded house in the loneliest stretch of New England. She avoids contact with her husband and her father and channels her grief into a grueling daily running regimen. This is doing her all kinds of good, until one day she makes the mistake of looking into the driveway of a man named Pickering. Pickering also enjoys privacy, but the young women he brings to his home suffer the consequences of knowing him. The tension hinges on whether Em will be next.

“We are excited to be working with Craig and Mitchell on this film. This cat-and-mouse thriller will appeal to Stephen King fans everywhere,” Brainstorm Media president Meyer Shwarzstein said.

“You cannot find a more valuable or bankable name than Stephen King in today’s market, and this pulse-pounding thriller with memorable characters and gripping tension will be exactly what buyers are looking for in Cannes,” said Radiant CEO Mimi Steinbauer.

Upcoming releases for Brainstorm include Ideal Home starring Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

This is the second deal for a King novel announced in Cannes, following our scoop on Netflix acquisition In The Tall Grass.