Doin’ More Time?

Dustin Hoffman--who played an ex-con in “Straight Time” (1978) and a Devil’s Island prisoner in “Papillon” (1973)--may be headed back behind bars.

Producer Lawrence Gordon is currently developing “Stone City” for the actor, based on an upcoming novel by Mitchell Smith. It’s about a meek history professor who winds up in a tough Midwestern prison, serving out a manslaughter sentence after running over a girl while driving intoxicated.

Screenwriter Donald Stewart (“The Hunt for Red October,” an Oscar for “Missing”) is adapting for Carolco from Smith’s 900-page manuscript, which will be published in May by Simon & Schuster.

Stewart tells us it’s an uncompromising look at one man’s self-discovery amidst “incredibly awful” conditions.

“It’s like slicing open a society that you were never before conscious of--that you could never have imagined,” says Stewart. He promised that “if this movie happens, it’s going to be tough .”