Roman J. Esquire Director Talks Teaming With Denzel Washington

Dan Gilroy has been around the business — first as a reporter for Variety, then as a screenwriter (“Reel Steel,” “The Bourne Legacy,” the scrapped Tim Burton Superman movie) — long enough to be very aware of all this. But he’s also aware of the trick to keep a project from being tainted by a power hungry star (or studio). And Gilroy pulled it off with “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” (opening in theaters on Wednesday).