Martin Scorsese is reportedly circling a new biopic of George Washington.

The film, called The General, is a gritty look at his time as a general as he is tasked with leading a dying army to safety during the revolutionary war. According to the Tracking Board, Scorsese is considering taking on the script, written by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, who recently worked on the sci-fi sequel Allegiant.

The project was originally to be directed by Darren Aronofsky, who compared the script to Clint Eastwood’s western Unforgiven.

It is the second George Washington film currently in development, with The Virginian, reportedly starring Bradley Cooper, also in the works.

Scorsese has a number of projects in development as he finishes work on his Jesuit priest drama, Silence. He is also rumoured to be reuniting with Leonardo DiCaprio for a film based on the life of gruesome serial killer HH Holmes and is due to produce a drama about Rolls Royce for director Asif Kapadia.

His recent TV drama Vinyl has suffered from middling reviews and poor ratings in the US. The showrunner Terrence Winter was recently replaced in a creative shakeup.