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Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington linked up to tell the story of ex-marine Robert McCall for the final time inThe Equalizer 3.
The franchise which started with the former special service commando returning to get his hands dirty – having faked his death previously – to save a young girl is coming to an end with the third and final chapter.
Now available to catch in the theaters,The Equalizer 3will see Robert take on the mafia in Southern Italy. Ahead of the movie’s release, Fuqua, who has directed all threeEqualizerinstallments, shed light on his experience of working with the acclaimed actor.
Read more:The Equalizer 3 Review – Best of the Trilogy, But That’s Not Saying Much
How Denzel Washington Saved Inexperienced Antoine Fuqua From a Career Humiliation
Antoine Fuquais now an established director having directed a number of movies, television series, and even music videos.
However, when he first encounteredDenzel Washingtonon the set ofTraining Dayin 2001, he was relatively inexperienced, directing only his third movie. Meanwhile, theGloryactor was already an established star with an Academy Award for Supporting Role in his bag to back his talents.
On paper, their relationship dynamic was no different than the movie’s plot which sees veteran officer Alonzo Harris (Washington) escort a rookie named Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) on his first day with the LAPD’s rough and corrupted narcotics unit. Throughout the movie we see Alonzo take Jake under his wings and teach him when to do the right thing and when to play the villain.
However, that was not the case at all behind the scenes. Fuqua recalled:
“I remember he was sitting at the table with Ethan [Hawke], and I said, ‘You want to come over and take a look [at the monitor]?’ It was my first scene with him, him and Ethan, I was scared to death. And Denzel was like, “You’re flying this plane, buddy. Call me when you need me,” and got up walked away, and I just thought, ‘I can’t screw this up.'”
Some superstars arrogantly carry themselves and don’t shy away from shoving filmmakers with their own creative ideas. In the position Washington was, he could’ve easily done the same and sort of humiliated Fuqua. However, he never looked at the monitor and showed the young filmmaker he had complete faith in his ability.
This set the tone forThe Replacement Killersdirector who only grew in confidence and delivered a classic crime drama which was a huge success at the time, grossing $104.9 million at the box office.
Read more:Denzel Washington Would Make Arnold Schwarzenegger Insecure With His Lethal Tank Skills as He Beat American Soldiers in Firing Tanks
Antoine Fuqua Reveals What It’s Like to Work With Denzel Washington
The show of confidence in Fuqua’s skills also worked brilliantly for the veteran actor, who ended up winning his first Oscar in Leading Role for his portrayal of the corrupt cop.
This also kickstarted a very successful partnership that has seen the duo join hands in a total of five brilliant movies.“Our rhythm is like music. I guess the only way I could describe it, I would imagine it’s like two musicians that just pick up the instruments and go and they just start riffing and it flows,”the 57-year-old director said.
Apart fromTraining Dayand threeEqualizermovies, Fuqua and Washington also linked up forThe Magnificent Seven, which incidentally also saw him reunite with Hawke. AsThe Equalizerseries comes to an end, we hope to see the duo work their magic together soon in a different movie.
Read more:Greatest Antoine Fuqua Movies That Aren’t Equalizer 3, Ranked
Source:Indie Wire
Vishal Singh
Articles Published :513
Vishal Singh is a Content Writer at FandomWire. Having spent more than half a decade in the digital media space, Vishal specializes in crafting engaging entertainment- and sports-focused stories. He graduated from university with an honors degree in English Literature.
