ComingSoon.net has learned that Bronson and Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn is in early talks to direct Columbia Pictures' upcoming adaptation of The Equalizer with Denzel Washington attached to play the lead.

A feature film adaptation of the hit 1980s television series, the original show was created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim. It starred Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a private detective with a lot of contacts who is available for hire if you have a problem that you don't know how to solve.

The movie was written by Richard Wenk with Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch producing through Escape Artists, alongside Alex Siskin, Mace Neufeld, Tony Eldridge, Michael Sloan, and Washington.

Refn's next film, Only God Forgives, doesn't yet have an official release date. The Equalizer, meanwhile, is scheduled for an April 11, 2014 release.