Although Nicole Kidman receded from the spotlight a bit more than expected these past five years or so, the next 12-24 months should help to make up for all that lost time. We’ve already brought you two early looks at her 2012 slate — both of which carry a fair amount of promise, to boot — and now there’s a third potential-filled offering that we can throw into the mix.

According to ScreenDaily (via ThePlaylist), Kidman has inked a deal to star for Rowan Joffe (Brighton Rock) in the psychological thriller Before I Go to Sleep. An adaptation of S.J. Watson‘s book, the project was first set into motion when Joffe came on for Scott Free productions in that far-ago and oft-forgotten time of September 2010, only to drag along for some 17 months (possibly on account of the director’s adapting duties).

Now it’s back in business, with Kidman ready to play “a young woman who, after a night of partying, wakes up to discover that she has aged beyond recognition.” So, a little more of the genre material that she’s been taking on in this latter half of her career; so long as it carries any sort of artistic potential — and we could easily contend that Before I Go to Sleep does — I’ve got no problem with that whatsoever.

Here’s a longer synopsis (via Amazon):

“Every day Christine wakes up not knowing where she is. Her memories disappear every time she falls asleep. Her husband, Ben, is a stranger to her, and he’s obligated to explain their life together on a daily basis–all the result of a mysterious accident that made Christine an amnesiac. With the encouragement of her doctor, Christine starts a journal to help jog her memory every day. One morning, she opens it and sees that she’s written three unexpected and terrifying words: “Don’t trust Ben.” Suddenly everything her husband has told her falls under suspicion. What kind of accident caused her condition? Who can she trust? Why is Ben lying to her? And, for the reader: Can Christine’s story be trusted? At the heart of S. J. Watson’s Before I Go To Sleep is the petrifying question: How can anyone function when they can’t even trust themselves?”

What do you make of Sleep? Is this a good path for Kidman to be taking?