Steve Harvey continues to reap acclaim for his best-selling relationship book, "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man." Screen Gems just announced it will turn the tome into a silver screener in much of the same fashion as film adaptations of popular books like "He's Just Not That Into You." The 52-year-old comedian, actor and radio host, who says he wrote the book in an effort to help women gain a better understanding of men, has earned a legion of female loyalists including talk queen Oprah. But Will Packer, the producer of the upcoming film, says he saw the book's potential long before mainstream got hip to it.

"As a producer you're always looking for your next big hit that can be culturally relevant while still having a commercial appeal that will lend itself to a cinematic approach. I travel a lot, and everywhere I went I would see women reading this book and telling me how they loaned it to their girlfriends, so I knew I had to get a copy. The early buzz (pre-Oprah audience) among African-American women who first embraced it confirmed what I'd hoped. It was hilarious, funny and poignant and really well done."

After having initial talks with Harvey's folks, Packer wasted no time getting a studio on board and immediately called Clint Culpepper, his friend and the president of Screen Gems.

"Clint is my good buddy and he's very charismatic and openly gay," explains Packer. "So I said to him, ‘The bad news is someone stole the title of your autobiography. The good news is that we can do this movie.' He got the biggest laugh out of that and we got started right away on this deal."

Packer, who has a penchant for taking universal stories and giving it an African-American perspective, says they will take the best elements of the book to create real story lines. As far as the cast, Packer admits he conjured his own ideas while reading the book, but though they are far from the celebrity name-dropping stage, he promises that it will be a diverse cast that caters to a broad audience including men.

"I don't want to make a chick flick, where women will have to drag their men along kicking and screaming to check it out," says Packer. "Relationships speak to everyone, so we're going after a [coed] audience that we know is going to respond because the world we live in is so diverse and integrated. I'm proud to be an African-American filmmaker and enjoy being able to tell stories that speak to African-Americans."

The "Obsessed" producer is currently working on "Stomp The Yard 2" as well as "The Takers," about a group of bank robbers who come together to pull off one last $20 million heist. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on February 19 and costars Michael Ealy, Idris Elba, Zoe Saldana, Paul Walker, Matt Dillon, Chris Brown , T.I. and Hayden Christiansen.