Stephen Daldry holds the distinction of being the only director to be nominated for an Oscar for his first three films-- Billy Elliott, The Hours and The Reader all earned him a Best Director nomination. So while Daldry's name recently popped up on the shortlist for Breaking Dawn directors, Daldry isn't going to ruin his track record by adapting some Stephenie Meyer novel. He's going classy all the way with Jonathan Safran Foer.

THR is reporting that Daldry will direct an adaptation of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Foer's novel about a nine-year-old New York boy coping with the death of his father on 9/11. Though only women have won acting Oscars under Daldry's direction-- that'd be Nicole Kidman and Kate Winslet-- he has a knack for casting young men too, discovering Jamie Bell for the title role in Billy Elliott and getting great work out of David Kross, who barely spoke English, in The Reader.

Eric Roth, most recently of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, adapted the screenplay, and Scott Rudin is producing, which makes this thing classy all the way down the line. The only real concern about Daldry taking on the project is that he's not a New Yorker, and not even an American, but really, that's a pretty minor quibble. Can't wait to see which kid gets his big break this time with Daldry behind the lens.