Bestselling author Michael Connelly and Terrill Lee Lankford have signed on to co-write the screenplay for The Equalizer for The Weinstein Company (TWC).

Paul McGuigan will direct the story based on the hit television series of the same name about Robert McCall, a highly trained former covert operative who becomes a vigilante.

Mace Neufeld, Tony Eldridge and Michael Sloan will serve as producers on the film, while TWC's Michael Cole, Eric Robinson and Brendan Deneen will oversee production for the company.

'Times have certainly changed since the days of the television show, but I think that more than ever there is a need for a hero like The Equalizer,' Connelly said. 'We plan to build a character that is of these times but to also keep the heart and soul of the show intact.'

'I was a big fan of the TV show and I can't think of a character more deserving of a revival than Robert McCall,' Lankford added. 'He's exactly the kind of guy we need in this post 9/11 world.'

Sloan and Richard Lindheim created the original television series starring Edward Woodward, which aired on CBS from 1985-1989.

Eric Roth, TWC's executive vice president and co-head of business and legal affairs, and Jonathan Fuhrman, vice president of business and legal affairs, negotiated the deal with Joel Gotler of Intellectual Property Group on behalf of Connelly and Lankford.

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