Christopher J. McFarland and Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz, co-owners of Red Granite Pictures, which produced “The Wolf of Wall Street,” are stalking someone bigger than that film’s hero, the stock hustler Jordan Belfort.

To wit, George Washington.

“Very visceral, very gritty,” promised Mr. McFarland, who is known as Joey, growing visibly excited. He had popped from his padded chair and was prowling a loungelike meeting room in Red Granite’s offices above the Sunset Strip.

“He’s a conflicted guy,” added Mr. Aziz, speaking of their new passion, a raw Revolutionary general.

The picture, they reckoned, should be ready to shoot by the summer of 2015. Mr. Aziz was confident they would land a filmmaker and star of the stature of Martin Scorsese, who directed “The Wolf of Wall Street,” and Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Mr. Belfort.

So “The General,” as Red Granite’s Washington project is currently titled, may become the next large-scale film from a four-year-old company with A-list ambitions ....