What Ashton Sanders brought to the screen in the Oscar-winning film Moonlight was a silent strength and vulnerability that not only cradled the spirit but kept the audience rooting for the underdog.

Sanders, who starred as Chiron during the most critical part of malehood – the transition from adolescence to manhood – took on a role that challenged him in many artistic and personal ways.

“Everything that I had gone through booking this role and filming it, [I realized that] what we kind of do as people is put things into the back of our minds and don’t revisit them,” Sanders told JET in an October 2016 interview. “I had to revisit all these things and they were very uncomfortable. It was one of the most vulnerable roles that I ever had to be in, but it was also very therapeutic.”

The hard work was evident. But, it also proved that Sanders is up for any challenge.

That may well be coming sooner than later, as The Tracking Board reports that the 20 year old actor is in talks of joining Denzel Washington on screen for the legal thriller, Inner City.

The film centers on “a lawyer (Washington) who discovers that his firm has always acted in accordance with his personal values.” This leads to an “existential crisis that forces him to take action.”

If When Sanders’ deal goes through, he’ll take on the role of an impressionable recent law school grad who helps Washington with pro bono cases.

Inner City is the brainchild of Dan Gilroy, who scored his directorial debut with 2014’s Nightcrawler.