Movies in which people shuffle papers or make speeches in courtrooms wouldn’t seem to be the natural stomping ground for Tony Scott, who usually only has paper when it’s flying everywhere after an explosion and characters giving speeches while fighting for their lives. But when it’s a John Grisham legal film, the game changes. If the LA Times’ sources are to be believed, Scott could well be getting into the Grisham business with The Associate.

Paramount already has the film bubbling away in development, with Shia LaBeouf roped in to star as a young lawyer who is manipulated into joining a prestigious firm and is then forced to pass secrets to a shady government contractor.

With LaBeouf in the lead and The Departed’s William Monahan behind the script, adding Scott as a big-name director would certainly help the project rise to the top of the heap in terms of production. The Grisham brand hasn’t exactly been the shiniest in Hollywood since the late 1990s, so perhaps this could represent a renaissance?

Scott’s not committed yet, though he’s apparently close. He’s just finished work on Unstoppable with old pal Denzel Washington (himself a Grisham alum - remember The Pelican Brief?), so he’s in the market for another assignment, despite the various possible jobs already pencilled into his schedule, including Potzdamer Platz and Hell's Angels.