Director Frank Darabont’s next project, Law Abiding Citizen, could have Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx going head-to-head. We learned earlier this year that Butler would play one of the leads – a successful D.A. targeted by a grief-stricken husband out for revenge following a plea deal that set one of the killers of his daughter and wife free. Foxx will play the vigilante husband. If you’re a fan of “Law and Order” you know that going after the lawyer is rarely a smart (or effective) move. Being that Foxx’s character is set to cross conventional vigilante lines, Law Abiding Citizen certainly has an air of intrigue.
If I had to guess, the film will have all manner of murky shades of grey. Foxx will be motivated by emotion, while Butler will be motivated by his loyalty to the system, each knowing that what they’re doing isn’t exactly right (in a cosmic sense). With that underlying sense of regret on both sides, Law Abiding Citizen is probably not going to be a balls-out fight; however, I’m really looking forward to seeing Foxx on the villain end of the spectrum, and what a better guy to take on than Butler? Since Darabont is helming the project and I absolutely loved his latest The Mist, I expect these grey tones to still have enough thrilling texture.
Darabont’s o-writer Kurt Wimmer isn’t a bad participant in the project either, having written Equilibrium, The Recruit and Street Kings previously. If Foxx does, in fact, sign on, Citizen will be one of next year’s blockbusters for sure. In the meantime, stay tuned for more details related to the project.