Screen Gems is in early talks with The Queen director Stephen Frears to helm The Burial, which it acquired out of turnaround from Warner Bros.
Doug Wright has already written a screenplay based on a lengthy New Yorker profile penned by Jonathan Harr (A Civil Action).
The story concerns Willie Gary, who was one of 11 children in a family of migrant workers. He became a multimillionaire attorney, fighting for the working man against huge corporations.
The film will focus on a $500 million settlement he won for the owner of a small chain of funeral homes in Mississippi who sued a Canada-based conglomerate that dominates the industry.
