As far as I can tell, David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers, The Change-Up) has always been attached to direct The Judge for Warner Bros. Everything else about the project, however, appears to be changing and transforming on a queasily consistent basis. A little more than a week ago, Variety announced that David Seidler, the Oscar-winning scribe of The King’s Speech, was brought on to rewrite an original draft of the story that was penned by Nick Schenk (Gran Torino). The same report also unveiled the news that Team Downey, the Warner label founded by Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey, had been tapped to produce the film.

Well, it turns out that only half of that was true. Team Downey is still aboard The Judge, and Robert Downey Jr. himself is hoping to star in the film. The latest news on the writing side of things, though, points firmly away from Seidler — the most recent development names Bill Dubuque as the screenwriter who’s currently working on polishing the most up-to-date draft. [Deadline]

Dubuque‘s name had been a little-known commodity until recently — he first popped into the spotlight when Pajiba revealed that Matthew McConaughey was intently circling his script The Headhunter’s Calling. Dubuque‘s action-thriller The Accountant, meanwhile, earned himself a spot on the 2011 Blacklist. It’s starting to look like this is a name we may want to keep an eye on.

On the other hand, it’s probably wisest to take this Judge news with a grain of salt, if only because the recent history points toward a couple of rumors that haven’t surfaced. Nevertheless, I find it encouraging that Downey wants a leading role in this thing, which is said to “[center] on a big-city lawyer who returns home after the death of his mother to learn that his estranged father, a judge, is suspected of murder.” It certainly have the most Dobkin-sounding vibe to it, but hopefully Dubuque‘s fresh hand can bring something to it.

Do you have any early hunches regarding The Judge?