Variety reports that Universal Pictures has picked up the rights to The Art of Racing in the Rain. The studio plans to put together the Garth Stein novel as a vehicle for Patrick Dempsey.

The film will follow Enzo, a family dog that has a near-human soul as well as a philosopher's mind. He looks at life through the lessons he learns from his owner, race-car driver Denny Swift (Dempsey).

Dempsey is actually a real life pro race car driver as well as a car owner who last drove in Le Mans and placed ninth. In addition to this, he raced in the American Rolex Series and owns Dempsey Racing, which is his team that has a deal with Mazda.