Nicolas Winding Refn didn't stick around The Equalizer very long, with the director dropping out barely a month after he came aboard. That left Sony with a big time star in Denzel Washington, but nobody to helm the remake of the 1980s TV series. It's expected to be a major franchise effort when it finally gets off the ground, and so a director coming off a blockbuster hit may be taking over.
Deadline reports that Rupert Wyatt, fresh off the $480M-grossing Rise of the Planet of the Apes, is in very early talks to take over the film, which once also had Paul Haggis and Russell Crowe attached. Since deciding not to take on the 'Apes' sequel, Wyatt has been busy prepping his WWI film, Birdsong, which recently nabbed Nicholas Hoult for the lead role. He'll also direct the AMC pilot for George Washington spy series, Turn. Wyatt still owes Fox one more movie, which means Sony will have to strike some sort of deal. So who knows if this will even happen.
Richard Wenk's script adapts the basic premise of the original series, which starred Ed Woodward as an ex-CIA operative looking to make up for past mistakes by fighting injustice wherever he can. We'll see what happens, but I like the idea of Wyatt and Washington pairing up, even if a movie based on The Equalizer doesn't thrill me all that much.
