Gray in for Darabont

For a guy whose last movie was BE COOL, F. Gary Gray got paroled pretty quickly from Director Jail.

Aside from a Marvin Gaye biopic, a long-proposed sequel to THE ITALIAN JOB, an “urbanized” update of JULIUS CAESAR and the eventually retitled Eric Bana heist flick ARMORED, he’s now picking up some sloppy seconds.

Gray is in talks to direct LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, stepping in for the departing Frank Darabont, who recently bolted from the project due to the obligatory “creative differences.” The movie stars Jamie Foxx as an average guy who goes vigilante when the killers of his wife and child slip through the legal system. Gerard Butler plays a lawyer caught in the middle.

With production on CITIZEN pretty much ready to roll, it looks like the Bana project might be the casualty on Gray’s busy slate.