So far, Magnificent Seven remake director Antoine Fuqua has largely been hiring either the conflicted heroes or someone who needs their help, with Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt and Haley Bennett set for the cast. Now he’s on the trail of the film’s main villain, with Vincent D’Onofrio in talks to co-star.
The movie will once more see a small town – in this case built around a gold mine – threatened by a ruthless baron (D’Onofrio, assuming he takes the role) and his gang of thugs. When they kill several people in their attempt to take the place over, a young widow (Bennett) hires a bounty hunter (Washington) to dispatch the bad guys, supplying him with the necessary funds to hire six gunmen to help him in his mission. Which is where Pratt, Hawke and others come into play. Fuqua is busy rounding up the rest of the cast for the film, aiming to kick off shooting within a month.
John Lee Hancock and True Detective’s Nic Pizzolatto are among those who have contributed to the screenplay, adapted from the classic Seven Samurai, which became the first crack at a Magnificent Seven in 1960. The new version is locking down a 2016 release date, but nothing is in the calendar yet.
D’Onofrio has been on a run of playing several bad or at least morally complicated guys. He’ll be seen opposite Pratt in Jurassic World (out June 12) and is the Kingpin in Marvel/Netflix’s Daredevil, which hits the streaming service on April 10 in one 13-episode block.