Actor Denzel Washington may soon be doing what Matt Damon did - starring in a movie based on a Robert Ludlum book. Damon starred in all three of the "Bourne" movies and now a project based on Ludlum's 1979 novel "The Matarese Circle" is being pitched to all the major studios with Washington attached as the star.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, no deal has been cut with any studio yet but the idea is out there and circulating. The story is about a pair of secret agents, an American and a Russian, who are forced to work together to fight a group of killers known as the Matarese, even though they both previously killed someone close to the other.

The pitch has Washington playing the American agent.

Writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, who previously penned "3:10 to Yuma" and the upcoming "Wanted" are expected to write the script.

"The Matarese Circle" is the only other Ludlum novel, like the Bourne series, that has a sequel. Ludlum wrote "The Materese Countdown" in 1997.

The three "Bourne" movies, starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, have grossed more than $900 million.