Last year, there was news that Paul Haggis and Russell Crowe would have a Next Three Days Reunion on The Equalizer, a film version of the ’80s action show. Escape Artists would be producing the update, which would presumably follow the same path as the original series: A man named Robert McCall works for “The Agency,” offering services that include “troubleshooter.” Things naturally progress from there.

But you might be well-advised to get suspicious about a project that goes virtually silent for more than a year, and this is no exception. As a press release from the company (via ComingSoon) informs us, the director and star won’t be lending their skills to the Richard Wenk screenplay, though Escape Artists might have found someone else — their press release also says that the project is “being developed with Denzel Washington in mind to star.” Maybe that means he’s ready to jump onboard, maybe that means they’re just being hopeful. Either way, they’re angling for the guy.

Washington seems like a fine choice — and, really, he is — but he hasn’t had a truly challenging role come his way in the past several years — the last might have been The Book of Eli, when all is said and done. I don’t think this would shake things up all that much, either, but he could at least give an otherwise silly project some credibility. I guess that counts for something.

Would Washington make a good Equalizer?