Before or after he gets down to business on The Conscientious Objector, Randall Wallace (Secretariat, Braveheart) will take things in a much more mainstream, crowd-pleasing direction. According to Deadline, New Regency have picked up rights to his pitch for Gunslingers, a “two-hander action adventure set in modern day Los Angeles”; Vince Vaughn is already locked to star and produce, the latter of which he’ll do through Wild West Picture Show Productions. Though a writing job is already on the table, it hasn’t been said if Wallace will direct.

All parties are keeping the big stuff under lock and key, but we’ve heard, nevertheless, that the plot will center on “heroic and iconic characters from the past [who] collide with contemporary urban reality,” and uses this unusual conflict to “[explore] what real heroism is in a fun and unexpected way.” I’m not sucked in from the outset — maybe Wallace‘s generally dodgy filmography is to blame — but that description doesn’t immediately leave me sour, either; I’d venture as far to say that I like the basic idea. (I can only assume time-travel comes into Gunslingers at one point or another — in which case, all the better.)

No start date or release window has been dispensed, though both entirely depend upon what Wallace does with The Conscientious Objector and, of course, where Vaughn‘s schedule heads for the near future. In the meantime, Gunslingers bears more promise than just about anything either have attached themselves to in years.

Does this early rundown of Gunslingers create any hope on your part?