Producer Charlie Lyons, director Jay Russell, and actor Tim Guinee have formed a producing consortium and acquired the theatrical rights to the 1942 noir tale, which is originally titled It Had to be Murder.

The story concerns a man who believes he witnesses a murder in the apartment across from his while confined to a wheelchair after breaking his leg.

Lyons is one of the producers of Broadway's Bring It On: The Musical; Russell has directed the films My Dog Skip, Tuck Everlasting, Ladder 49, and The Water Horse; and Guinee is a stage and television veteran, who currently appears on the NBC series Revolution.