Renny Harlin and Aaron Eckhart Getty Images EXCLUSIVE: John Wick producer Thunder Road Pictures has set director Renny Harlin (The Strangers franchise) and star Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) for action-thriller Trial By Combat. The film is set in a near future where "judicial combat" has become accepted practice and legal trials are settled by gladiatorial combat between elected "Champions." It's a system that rewards corruption and punishes the innocent. Eckhart stars as John Porter, a once-great Champion, chewed up and spat out by the judiciary.