It sounds like the Oscar winner will play another bad, bad man

Newly minted Oscar winner Forest Whitaker is in negotiations to appear opposite Keanu Reeves in Fox Searchlight's "The Night Watchman."

According to the industry trade papers, David Ayer ("Harsh Times") will begin directing the James Ellroy-scripted procedural on May 21. That's already nearly a month later than the studio was hoping to begin production, but that's par for the course on a film that has attracted and baffled an assortment of A-list directors including David Fincher, Spike Lee and Oliver Stone.

Actually, the film sounds like a good match for Ayer, who also wrote "Training Day." Reeves plays a long-time LAPD cop who has a life epiphany and begins to question some of the tactics he's used over the years. He goes head-to-head with his longtime mentor (Whitaker) over the blowback from the death of a fellow officer.

Whitaker filled his trophy cases with honors for his work in "The Last King of Scotland." The "Ghost Dog" star has "Vantage Point" and "Winged Creatures" on tap, as well as a vocal turn in "Where the Wild Things Are."