Dan Gilroy's directorial debut came three years ago with Nightcrawler, a film that explored the dark corners of crime journalism in Los Angeles. The film put him in the thick of the Oscar race, earning a nomination for Best Screenplay. Now he's back with the Denzel Washington-led legal thriller Roman J. Israel, Esq., and ever since it premiered at TIFF awards have been predicted for its future.
Turning his attention to the moral ambiguity of the California legal system, Gilroy's film follows a crusading lawyer whose sense of social justice is turned upside down when his partner suffers a heart attack. Colin Farrell plays the wealthy attorney who recruits Israel to his firm and forces him to question his idealism.
There's definitely a Michael Clayton (which was written and directed by Dan's brother Tony Gilroy) vibe, albeit slightly quirkier, and buzz is building for Washington to earn another Best Actor nomination, but the reviews out of TIFF were split. We'll have to wait until November 3rd to find out where Roman J. Israel, Esq. truly stands.
