EXCLUSIVE: Director John Madden, coming off the success of helming his sequel The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, is in negotiations to direct Ms. Sloane, an original script from first-time screenwriter Jonathan Perera that centers on a lobbyist who takes on the powerful gun lobby to push through federal gun control legislation.

This is early days on this project, which would be produced and financed by FilmNation Entertainment. I’m hearing, though, that if the deal is made, the first call will be to Jessica Chastain, who co-starred with Madden on his 2010 drama The Debt. She would play the lead, the seasoned lobbyist who, with her small team of politicos, attempts to pass the hot-button legislation into federal law while going up against well-financed and unscrupulous members of the gun lobby.

Madden has a diverse list of credits that includes Best Picture Oscar winner Shakespeare In Love and Proof, both with Gwyneth Paltrow, and the two indie Marigold Hotel hits. The Debt starred Chastain, Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington in the story of three Mossad agents who in 1965 cross into East Berlin to catch a Nazi war criminal. The secrets the agents share come back to haunt them 30 years later.

Perera is repped by UTA and Management SGC.