Law And Disorder

ROMAN ISRAEL, ESQ. | Denzel Washington transforms himself into an out-of-time activist in Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler follow-up…

Ithink anybody who’s drawn to a higher calling and imagines something greater than themselves will see themselves in Roman,” suggests writer/director Dan Gilroy. The Roman he’s referring to is Roman J. Israel, Esq., the Denzel Washington-shaped eponymous lead of his follow-up to 2014’s invasive thriller Nightcrawler. Here, Gilroy paints a detailed portrait of a socially-awkward-yet-driven defence attorney and activist who is forced to question everything he stands for when a random tragedy changes the direction of his life.

“It really goes back to remembering the ’60s and seeing mass demonstrations and a spirit of activism throughout the entire populous.

It was a phenomenon I’ve never really forgotten,” Gilroy tells Teasers. “There are people whose lives very much revolve around the idea that we’re a shared humanity, and to work for it defines who they are, but it’s very much a burden as well. They’re often very smart, dedicated people who wind up forgoing financial success. It costs them relationships and takes an emotional toll.

“Roman is very much the embodiment of that,” the director

adds. “He’s a guy in his early sixties looking back at the landscape of his life. He’s carried around this idealism to its farthest degree and now as things start to unwind: what did it mean? What was the cost? He’s a guy with that dilemma.”

Thankfully, Gilroy had an acting powerhouse on hand who was all too eager to tackle the issue. “Denzel instantly got that. When you watch it, he just disappears within the first minute

– he becomes this