Tom Cruise and United Artists have acquired rights to serial-killer thriller "The Monster of Florence" reports Variety.

Based on the novel by Douglas Preston ("The Cabinet of Curiosities," "The Relic"), the story is a reconstruction of eight grisly double homicides believed to have been committed single-handedly between 1968 and 1985 in and around the Italian Renaissance gem.

Cruise is attached to produce and possibly star in the project which Chris McQuarrie ("Valkyrie," "The Usual Suspects") will pen.

The "Monster of Florence" case had previously inspired the Thomas Harris sequel "Hannibal."