According to Variety, Warner Bros. Pictures has paid a low-seven-figures sum for Whiskey River, a spec script by former secretary of the Navy James Webb that scribe-playwright John Patrick Shanley will adapt. Castle Rock Entertainment's Rob Reiner will direct and produce.

The story concerns an American soldier who is injured in Iraq and shipped to a U.S. hospital. But before he has fully recovered, he is called back to active duty. The soldier's father decides the only way to save his son's life is to kidnap him.

Alan Greisman and Webb also will produce. Reiner and Webb brought the project to Warners, which will distribute the film.

Webb has authored numerous books and penned the original script for Rules of Engagement, which Scott Rudin produced for Paramount. A former Marine who fought in Vietnam, Webb became assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs during the Reagan administration and then secretary of the Navy, a post he ankled in protest of proposed budget cuts.