Hunting Lane Films, which earlier this year unveiled a development fund to option and develop movie projects in the $6 million-$20 million range, has optioned Tony D’Souza’s third novel, Mule. The Houghton Mifflin Harcourt title, released in September, is a contemporary story of one couple’s unlikely foray into “muling” marijuana as a way to survive the recession. Hunting Lane is topped by producer Jamie Patricof; its previous films include the Ryan Gosling-starrer Half Nelson, Derek Cianfrance’s Gosling-Michelle Williams starrer Blue Valentine last year and this year’s Sundance title Little Birds as well as Bravo TV’s The Rachel Zoe Project.