Once filmmaker John Carney has signed on to direct Dogs of Babel for Mandate Pictures. We first reported on this project back in February, when Steve Carell came aboard to produce and star in the drama.

Jamie Linden wrote the screenplay, which is adapted from Carolyn Parkhurst's novel of the same name. The story centers on Paul Iverson (Steve Carell), a linguistics professor who comes home one day to find his wife dead in their back yard. Although the police rule the death an accident, Paul is still skeptical. He tries to teach his dog Lorelei, the only witness to his wife's death, how to speak, in hopes of determining what really happened that day.

Steve Carell is producing Dogs of Babel alongside Mandate Pictures president Nathan Kahane, David Heyman, Corey May, and M. Dooma Wendschuh. It isn't known when production may begin on Dogs of Babel.