The Who will direct Denzel Washington in The Equalizer? contest continues…

Director Nicolas Winding Refn had the job initially, but then walked away from it, after he and the studio could reach an agreement. 

Minutes ago, Deadline announced that Washington’s Training Day director, Antoine Fuqua, is currently in talks to replace Refn in this big screen adaptation of the 1980s TV show, The Equalizer for Sony Pictures and Escape Artists, from a script written by Richard Wenk.

First announced over a year ago, when Russell Crowe was said to be attached to star, Denzel replaced him in the film earlier this year.

The reportedly $50 million project and is said to be designed to launch the first film franchise for Mr Washington – hence, if the first film does well, expect sequels.

The TV series was set in New York, and centered on a former secret agent (played by the late Edward Woodward) with a “mysterious past” who tries to atone for past sins by offering, free of charge, his services as an investigator, aided by a diverse group of other sometimes-mysterious contacts (some of whom date back to his spying days).

No official synopsis for the film yet, but it’s expected to follow the basic premise of the TV series.

With Fuqua helming (assuming a deal is reached – the job has been chased after by many apparently), this probably means we should expect a more hard-hitting, raw, gritty, R-rated kind of Equalizer, and not the PG/PG-13 series that was the TV show. This’ll probably be more like Denzel Washington in Man On Fire mode.

Production is set to begin in spring 2013, so I’m sure Sony is keen on signing a director up very soon.