the magnificent seven
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Rolls Out A New IMAX Poster
As far as remakes and reboots go, the 2014 adaptation of hit TV series, The Equalizer, seems to signal that director Antoine Fuqua knows how to gel with certain properties on par for big screen prospects. Thus, his latest comes by way of another remake classic, The Magnificent Seven, previously iterated by John Sturges with respect to late film auteur Kurosawa Akira.
Landing our main roster of heroes and villians in the old West, Fuqua reunites with actors Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke among an ensemble cast that sees the heroes take on an evil industrialist. The most recent trailer from July certainly lends an appealing view for Fuqua’s treatment while we may very well get a second trailer with the film currently due in just over three weeks. In the meantime, the marketing campaign continues as per the current rollout of character vignettes, and Fandango’s exclusive presentation of the new IMAX poster which you can view below ahead of the film’s TIFF premiere on September 8, and wide theatrical release on September 23.
Director Antoine Fuqua brings his modern vision to a classic story in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures’ and Columbia Pictures’ “The Magnificent Seven.” With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), the desperate townspeople employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns – Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), Josh Farraday (Chris Pratt), Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), Billy Rocks (Byung-Hun Lee), Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money.
Two More Join Fuqua's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
It’s been a few days since MGM’s forthcoming Western reboot, The Magnificent Seven announced at least one more key role in the form of actor Peter Sarsgaard who will play the villain, via Variety. Since then it’s also been stated that actor Jason Momoa dropped out after his name began circulating a few weeks ago, but casting has moved on with at least two more now in the mix.
Deadline reports that actors Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Martin Sensmeier will play the respective roles of “Vasquez” and “Red Harvest”, joining lead actor Denzel Washington in a remake of director John Sturges’s titular 1960 Western adaptation of an earlier Kurosawa classic. The new film reunites Washington will his Training Day and The Equalizer helmer Antoine Fuqua from scribe John Lee Hancock’s final draft which centers on a group of five outlaws hired to protect a small mining town from a ruthless gold baron.
Actress Haley Bennett and actors Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt, Wagner Mouran, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Byung-hun Lee round out the current cast for the film’s expected release of January 13, 2017. Fuqua‘s latest film, boxing drama Southpaw starring Jake Gyllenhaal will open on July 24 courtesy of TWC.
Stay tuned for more info!
Antoine Fuqua's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Adds Two More To The Cast!
I will be the first to admit that I am old at 52 and I happen to love Westerns. Growing up with a father born in Kentucky, and a mother from Oklahoma, my tastes in music and film partially stemmed from their influence. And one of those influences is the appreciation of country music. I get that from my mom and dad. Films on the other hand, were directly influenced by my father. I grew up watching John Wayne films that my father enjoyed. And I enjoy them too. The last Western I watched was the intriguing Cowboys vs Aliens that I found “amusing,” to say the least. My dad would have laughed at this.
So, normally, whenever a new Western was on TV that my father had not seen before, my older brother and I made a family night together with dad.
One of my father’s favorite films was The Magnificent Seven. Also, The Alamo – but that’s another story entirely. It was with interest that I found Training Day and The Equalizer helmer Antoine Fuqua was directing a remake of this classic. But instead of a small Mexican village being terrorized by gun runners, we are having a mining town victimized and taken over by a gold baron.
So who is taking over the iconic roles portrayed by the original cast members? Let’s see: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Haley Bennett, Ethan Hawke, Wagner Moura and Vincent D’Onofrio, and as of this week, actor Byung-hun Lee as “Billy Rocks” and actor Jason Momoa as the villain.
Lee, who will be co-starring in Alan Taylor’s Terminator: Genysis this July and Momoa, currently attached as Aquaman in Zack Snyder’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice as well as his own standalone film in a few years, are in very good company along with HBO’s True Detective writer Nic Pizzolatto penning the screenplay. The film is coming out on January 13, 2017 from MGM, with extra dilligence needed as we await more info on Fuqua‘s hopeful return to direct the officially greenlit sequel to last year’s The Equalizer.
For others, if boxing dramas are more your speed, Fuqua‘s Southpaw arrives in late July!
H/T: ComingSoon.net via THR, Deadline
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
Ethan Hawke May Reunite With 'Training Day' Cohorts For THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
There’s something to be said about a certain type of project and the goodness it brings when all the right people come together. In 2000, that very project came in the form of the award-winning crooked cop thriller, Training Day, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington.
Haley Bennett Reunites With Washington And Fuqua For THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN!
Last year’s go-around with the Denzel Washington/Antoine Fuqua hit pairing, The Equalizer, turned out some really amazing from its cast. One such performance came from supporting actress Haley Bennett who plays a friend to that of lead actress Chloe Grace Moretz in the story of a monastic former government operative whose fight for a young girl’s freedom from human traffickers turned into a sprawling one-man war against an entire criminal organization, and at the rate we’re going, we could very well see a sequel.
Before then, director Fuqua and our lead actor Washington are bound to rejoin for the production of The Magnificent Seven as of last June – a remake of the original 1960 classic western directed by John Sturges and starring Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen. Actor Chris Pratt was announced for a possible role in the film last December as well, and now, Deadline is reporting the film could very likely reunite Fuqua and Washington with actress Bennett for a leading role – a widow who hires a bounty hunter to avenge her husband’s death at the hands of a rutheless gold-mining baron, offering enough money to split seven ways with his men to get the job done.
As a noteworthy mention, Pratt‘s name is also one with major circulation in the year following his successful start at Marvel as Star Lord in Walt Disney Co.’s Guardians Of The Galaxy, with any number of roles now lining up in his direction, including Cowboy Ninja Viking and Friday’s Deadline report of his pick by Steven Spielberg for a reboot of Indiana Jones. Hopefully we’ll learn more about which will come first in the months ahead as 2015 grows itself into another busy and exciting year for movies!
Stay tuned for more info!
REVIEW: THE EQUALIZER (2014)
SYNOPSIS:
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
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