The best-selling novel "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind is to be made into a full-length feature film. Its Zurich publishers said film rights had been bought by the German company, Constantin, for an undisclosed price.

A spokesman for the publishers, Diogenes Verlag, announced that after long negotiations, Constantin had managed to persuade the reclusive Munich-based author to allow the novel, a murder thriller set during the French revolution, to be filmed.

It was apparently no easy task. "It's no secret that I and many other directors and producers have been trying for years to acquire the film rights to this unique work," said Bernd Eichinger, chairman of Constantin. "It is a once-in-a-century novel."

First published in 1985, "Perfume" has sold three million copies in Germany and 12 million copies in 37 languages around the world.

Constantin says it will take about two years for the film to be completed.

Its director and cast have yet to be named. However according to the American cinema magazine, "Variety", Miramax has expressed interest in producing "Perfume", with Martin Scorsese as director and Leonardo di Caprio in the lead role.

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