the equalizer

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Wagner Moura Adds To Fuqua's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

For all the bruhaha from some critics over director Neill Blomkamp’s 2013 sci-fi epic, Elysium, at best, it was a film I ultimately enjoyed. It especially landed actor Wagner Moura on my radar while I haven’t yet seen his previous films, Elite Squad and Elite Squad 2 – they’re on my watchlist, so all things in good time.

Meanwhile, Moura‘s screen presence is defintely something I look forward to, particularly with director Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming remake, The Magnificent Seven. The film itself is one that’s come up on occasion in the last few years, interestingly enough with the previously-mentioned and hopeful involvement of Martin Scorsese and action duo Donnie Yen and Yuen Woo-Ping for a remake of Seven Samurai, the 1954 Kurosawa Akira classic on which helmer John Sturges’s 1960 western in question was based. For now though, it’s Sturges’s movie in the headlines and Training Day trio, stars Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke and director Antoine Fuqua tapped to work on the film along with The Equalizer co-star, actress Haley Bennett and actors Chris Pratt and (hopefully) Marvel’s Daredevil co-star, actor Vincent D’onofrio, and now with Moura joining in.

The new script from scribes John Lee Hancock and Nic Pizzolatto will center on Bennett‘s role as a grieving widow who hires a disparate group of bounty hunter to avenge her husband’s death at the hands of a rutheless gold-mining baron, offering them enough money to split seven ways to get the job done. Sony has since planted a flag for the film’s release date of January 13, 2017 on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.

In the meantime, Moura can be seen this August in Netflix’s upcoming series, Narcos, while Fuqua settles in this July with upcoming boxing drama, Southpaw, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, in addition to (hopefully being the one to facilitate) a sequel to his September 2014 hit, The Equalizer, which Variety now reports has officially been greenlit by Sony as of this week for Washington to return to star.

Lots of work ahead. Keep your eyes peeled!

H/T: THR

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LONDON HAS FALLEN May Have Found A New Director

It was back in August that Charlie Countryman helmer Fredrik Bond was slated to direct actor Gerard Butler in London Has Fallen, the forthcoming action sequel to last year’s hit, Olympus Has Fallen. Since then, Bond reportedly bailed on the project over a week ago, leaving the production six weeks to find a director.

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Check Out A New Clip And More For THE EQUALIZER!

Yahoo! Movies has a brand new poster and clip for the upcoming September 26, 2014 release of the new action thriller, The Equalizer, from Sony Pictures. The film is also getting an IMAX, and a sequel has already greenlit following positive feedback from early test screenings, so I’m already sold.

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THE EQUALIZER Gets A New IMAX Poster

THE EQUALIZER Gets A New IMAX Poster

IMAX Corporation (NYSE: IMAX; TSX: IMX) and Sony Pictures Entertainment today announced that The Equalizer, the highly anticipated reteaming of Academy Award® winner Denzel Washington and acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua, will be digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX® format and released in IMAX® theatres worldwide starting September 26. 

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Victor Ortiz Joins Antoine Fuqua's SOUTHPAW

Director Antoine Fuqua has just begun filming his latest boxing drama in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for The Weinstein Company titled Southpaw, and this week brings the start of a second significant step forward in acting with a co-starring role for former boxing champion and The Expendables 3 co-star, Victor Ortiz. The film is written by Richard Wenk and Sons Of Anarchy series creator Kurt Sutter, and casts Ortiz as “Ramone”, fellow up-and-coming boxer whose story will be attributed somewhat similarly to Ortiz‘s own life story leading up to his career as a WBC Welterweight champion until earlier this year.

Ortiz joins lead Prisoners co-star, actor Jake Gyllenhaal who himself leads the film as “Billy Hope”, a welterweight boxer rising in the ranks while his while his personal life falls apart. Actress Rachel McAdams and Star Wars VII cast member, award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, and actors Forest Whitaker and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson round out the current cast. The film was initially announced last year with hip-hop artist and actor Eminem as the lead before newly casting Gyllenhaal back in March.

Ortiz will appear in the upcoming theatrical release of The Expendables 3 from director Patrick Hughes on August 15 from Lionsgate. Meanwhile, Fuqua, has other films in the works, including Narco Sub from a script by David Guggenheim, a hopeful sequel to Wenk’s script for actor Denzel Washington’s upcoming appearance in the September 26, 2014 release of The Equalizer based on the original TV series, and the forthcoming theatrical remake production of The Magnificent Seven.

Stay tuned!

H/T: Deadline

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Eminem And Sia Grace The Sizzling New Trailer For THE EQUALIZER

Actor Denzel Washington is getting some more screentime this week with a new trailer for the upcoming release of director Antoine Fuqua‘s new action thriller, The Equalizer, based on the hit TV series of the same name. The new trailer contains a little bit more footage revealing some extra goodies filmgoers can expect when it releases this Fall on September 26, including the arrival of a new song performed by hip-hop artist Eminem, accompanied with vocals by singer, Sia.

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MGM Reteams Washington And Fuqua For THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

MGM Reteams Washington And Fuqua For THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Director Antoine Fuqua is having a pretty good year in film, with The Equalizer on deck for a Fall release and a sequel in the works. In addition to his attachment to producer Ridley Scott’s new crime thriller, Narco Sub, Fuqua is also posied to helm a theatrical remake of the classic Western, The Magnificent Seven.

Well, MGM is noticing a pattern nowadays, one which has much to do with the seemingly lucrative partnership between Fuqua and actor Denzel Washington since their memorable work on the 2001 crime drama, Training Day. Plus, with all the buzz now surrounding the duo’s work on The Equalizer, it’s understandable the studio would adhere to the excitement and are now looking to cast Washington in the remake.

The original 1960 film from director John Sturges that saw actors Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen leading a grizzled cast of tough gunslingers protecting a defenseless agricultural village from marauding native bandits. The film was also a Western cinematic nod to Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 period adventure, Seven Samurai, and was inducted into the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for preservation last year.

No word yet on when filming will commense for the remake as Fuqua is currently set to direct boxing drama, Southpaw as of March.

The Equalizer will release on September 26, 2014.

H/T: Variety

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Watch The New Trailer For THE EQUALIZER

After several months of slowly disseminating set pics and stills, Sony/Columbia recently began ramping up promitional efforts for director Antoine Fuqua‘s latest film, The Equalizer, loosely based on the original 1985-1989 TV series starring the late Edward Woodward. As such, the film granted the public with a brand new poster of the film just last week, which you can take a look at below:

Aside from other usual action tropes, the film is poised to be one of the more physically demanding roles that lead actor Denzel Washington (Man On Fire, 2 Guns, The Book Of Eli) endured in preparation for the titular role, as so illustrated by Fuqua of Washington‘s “sustained intensity” and minimal use of firearms in Washington’s featured action sequences. “He really hits those mitts,” Fuqua tells USA Today. “And you imagine what he’ll do to you. You might underestimate him. That’s your first mistake.” Fuqua then adds “His hand-to-hand work is pretty nasty when the monster comes out, …We used what was around him. You’d be surprised what he can do with a corkscrew. You’ll never open a bottle of wine the same way again.”

The film reunites Fuqua with Washington since their previous pairing on the award-winning 2001 crime drama, Training Day, and might do so again now that approving test audiences have already granted The Equalizer a sequel with franchise potential similar to Liam Neeson’s Taken trilogy. Despite this, as always, this will depend on how this one performs at the box office. “The audience will decide that,” Washington tells USA Today. “You can’t make No. 2 before you make No. 1. It’s called show business. We’ve handled the show part of it. We’ll see how the business part goes.”.

The Equalizer evens the score in theaters on September 26, 2014. Watch the trailer and stay tuned for more news ahead.

SYNOPSIS:

In The Equalizer, Denzel Washington plays McCall, a former black ops commando who has faked his death to live a quiet life in Boston. When he comes out of his self-imposed retirement to rescue a young girl, Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), he finds himself face to face with ultra-violent Russian gangsters. As he serves vengeance against those who brutalize the helpless, McCall’s desire for justice is reawakened. If someone has a problem, the odds are stacked against them, and they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer.

H/T: Indiewire/Shadow And Act, USA Today, Yahoo! Movies

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Chloe Moretz Gets A Role In THE EQUALIZER

Chloe Moretz Gets A Role In THE EQUALIZER

Director Jeff Wadlow’s upcoming real-world superhero action comedy, Kick Ass 2 won’t unleash Hit Girl’s new moves until August 16. But that hasn’t stopped Chloë Moretz from making headlines this week with Deadline reporting on Friday that the 16 year old actress is ready to push the envelope a little more with her career in the upcoming TV-to-film adaptation of The Equalizer.

Moretz is being tapped to play the role of “Teri” after a chemistry reading with lead actor Denzel Washington, who was said to be impressed with her performance, as was everyone in the room who attended. The role is being redrawn for Moretz and is described as a prostitute, portrayed in the same vein of Jodie Foster’s role in Martin Scorsese’s 1976 crime thriller, Taxi Driver.

THE EQUALIZER, loosely based on the hit 1980’s television series, 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 indicates 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 as executive producer. Anton Fuqua (The Replacement Killers, Olympus Has Fallen) has been tapped to direct.

Meantime, Moretz is set to star in the upcoming horror remake of Carrie this October. Washington will star in the August 2, 2013 release of 2 Guns, co-starring Mark Wahlberg, directed by Baltazar Kormakur.

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Director Anton Fuqua Tapped For THE EQUALIZER

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.

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