Back in June 2014, it was reported that The Equalizer star Denzel Washington was in talks to star in a remake of the 1960 western The Magnificent Seven that would reunite him once again with director Antoine Fuqua. Negotiations appear to have gone well, as the pair confirmed the reunion during the premiere of The Equalizer this week.
Variety reports that Fuqua — who directed Washington in The Equalizer and 2001’s Training Day — recently confirmed that he’ll work with Washington on The Magnificent Seven. The original, 1960 film told the story of a ragtag group of seven gunmen who are hired to save a small Mexican village from a band of vicious outlaws, and was itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 Japanese film Seven Samurai.
An early draft of the Magnificent Seven remake was penned by True Detective writer and executive producer Nic Pizzolatto.
While The Equalizer hasn’t arrived in theaters yet, the pairing of Fuqua and Washington has yielded impressive results so far, with Training Day earning Washington his first and only “Best Actor” Academy Award. Early buzz on The Equalizer suggests that the violent thriller — based on the ’80s television series of the same name — will also enjoy a warm reception from critics, and the studio has already moved forward with a sequel.
The Equalizer hits theaters September 26.
