Stephen Gaghan to Direct CANDY STORE; Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington May Star

Academy Award-winner Stephen Gaghan hasn’t directed a feature film since 2005’s Syriana, but the Traffic scribe is now attached to a rather high profile thriller as his follow-up.  THR reports that Gaghan will next direct Candy Store, a thriller he wrote that’s attracting some major talent.  Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington are apparently in early talks for the two leads in what’s described as “a crime thriller with meaty roles for the two main characters.”  Further plot details are unknown, but Jamie Foxx was interested in one of the roles as well.

Late last year Gaghan set up an untitled cartel drama at Warner Bros. and an independent adaptation of Patrick Keefe’s novel The Snakehead, but neither of those projects have come to fruition.  He provided a script polish for M. Night Shyamalan’s sci-fi pic After Earth starring Will Smith and Jaden Smith, which opens next year.