It used to be that you could count on Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg to get a little freaky with his movies. This is, after all, the guy who did “eXistenZ”, “Crash”, and “Naked Lunch”. Nowadays, he’s putting out the most commercial films of his career, with “A History of Violence” followed by “Eastern Promises”. Of course, being that Cronenberg is still Cronenberg, both films were a tad uncomfortable at times, which pretty much describes the feeling one got all the time when watching the director’s early films. If Hollywood has its way, Cronenberg’s march to the mainstream will continue when he steps behind the camera to direct the spy thriller “The Matarese Circle”, which is set to star Denzel Washington, and is based on the novel by spy writer Robert Ludlum (”The Bourne Identity”).

More on the movie’s plot from THR:

In the 1979 book, two rival intelligence agents — one American, one Soviet — find themselves working together to ferret out and vanquish members of a mysterious group of criminals called the Matarese that has infiltrated the highest levels of American government.

Denzel Washington will be playing a character name Brandon Scofield, the American intelligence officer who finds himself teaming up with his KGB arch nemesis to find the truth behind “Matarese”.

If Cronenberg does sign on, he’ll be directing from a script by the suddenly red hot duo of Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (”Wanted”, among many, many others). Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Nick Wechsler and Jeffrey M. Weiner will produce the flick for MGM.

If the film is a hit, expect a sequel called “The Matarese Countdown”, also based on a novel by Ludlum, to hit the screens a few years later.