Dark City and I Robot director Alex Proyas is working with Phoenix Pictures on an adaptation of the 1942 Robert Heinlein novella The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag.

Described as "a complex psychological thriller with plenty of action as well as some love interest," The Unpleasant Profession... focuses on a man who gets a detective agency to investigate his own life when he realises that he doesn't know what he does during the day.

"I read this story as a kid and it really stayed with me," Proyas told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's part of my creative DNA."

A budget of between $40-50 million is expected, along with a title change. Proyas is currently in post production on the Nicolas Cage time capsule movie Knowing, and is also attached to direct Dracula Year Zero for Universal.