Inner City has a lead role up for grabs and Denzel Washington has his eye on it. Written and to be directed by Dan Gilroy, this legal drama is said to be closely related to Paul Newman’s 1982 film The Verdict. Similar to Gilroy’s directorial debut Nightcrawler, Inner City takes place in Los Angeles and would set Washington to portray a lawyer dealing with major change at his company.

After a summer season of filled with box office misses, studio interest in this project is high. After the success of Nightcrawler, which grossed $32 million domestically on an $8.5 million dollar budget, well-known distributors and streaming services (including Netflix) have been tracking Inner City’s progress. Gilroy’s script will be sent out after Labor Day and is expected to be one of the bigger sales this fall.

Gilroy has expressed interest in Washington for the role since the start but Washington did not want to make any career choices until he finished filming Paramount’s adaptation of Fences, the upcoming stage adaptation of August Wilson’s play that he stars in as well as directs. This is not the only film the two-time Oscar winner has been mulling over, sources say J.C. Chandor’s Triple Frontier is in the mix as well.

Washington can be seen in Antoine Fuqua’s remake of The Magnificent Seven, which is opening this year’s Toronto Film Festival September 8th.