If he does board the project, Washington will need a new on-screen adversary. Hackman died in February at the age of 95. Tony Scott, the original director of “Crimson Tide,” and Robert Towne, one of its writers, have also died.

Legacyquels are all the rage in Hollywood these days, and that means that producer Jerry Bruckheimer holds a lot of playable cards. In the last few years, he has been a player in the returns of the Top Gun,