Drive' Director at the Wheel of Denzel Washington's 'The Equalizer'

This past summer, we heard that Denzel Washington would be taking on the starring role in a big screen adaptation of the 1980s action drama The Equalizer. The project will cast Washington as reformed murderer Robert McCall who sets out through New York City in a swanky car, taking down bad guys to compensate for his sordid past. In theme, not a far jaunt from Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive, which might be why Refn has been tagged as the director to take on the feature.

Hollywood.com has confirmed with Escape Artists that Refn will be helming the film. If his adored Ryan Gosling picture and previous movies like Bronson and Valhalla Rising are any indication, Refn will handle the brutish nature of The Equalizer's leading character with a dark, heavy severity and sensitivity.

As for Washington, he might have lost some cred with the unfavorably received Flight. Perhaps a union with a creative force like Refn, plus the same old badass material that made everyone fall in love with him in the first place, will bring Washington back into America's good graces.

[Photo Credit: Film District]