With actor Russell Crowe, and directors Rupert Wyatt and Nicolas Winding Refn all passing up having anything to do with rebooting The Equalizer, Deadline is reporting that filmmaker Anton Fuqua is being eyed to helm Sony’s big screen adaptation of the television series. The film will reunite Fuqua with actor Denzel Washington since their previous work on the 2001 crime drama, Training Day, which earned Washington an Academy Award for Best Actor.
The report also tells that THE EQUALIZER is being described as a loosely based on the hit 1980’s television series, that will star Washington as “a solitary, monastic figure who hates injustice and devotes himself to helping people who are being victimized.” An earlier report from The Hollywood Reporter indicate that the plot may involve Washington’s character taking on the Russian mob as a result of one of his acts of kindness. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, Alex Siskin, Mace Neufeld, Michael Sloan, and Tony Eldridge are producing, with David Bloomfield serving executive producer.
Fuqua’s is also best known for one of my own personal favorites, The Replacement Killers, which also starred Mira Sorvino, Danny Trejo and Michael Rooker, and launched lead action star Chow Yun-Fat into international stardom after contributing to such clasic Hong Kong hits as Hard Boiled, The Killer and City On Fire. Fuqua’s new film, Olympus Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart and Rick Yune will open in theaters this week on March 22, 2013. You can view the latest RED BAND clip below or click HERE if the embed fails to load.
Stay tuned for further developments on THE EQUALIZER.