Lob your mind back a few days – to last week, in fact – when we reported on Training Day** director Antoine Fuqua’s surging fortunes and in-demand status. Among several projects he’s pondering is the long-gestating remake of The Magnificent Seven. And according to Variety, he wants cinema pal Denzel Washington to star.
The news, which was originally broken as a rumour by the Schmoes Know team, is an unsurprising one given the close bond the pair have formed across** Training Day** and, more recently, on The Equalizer. While neither is locked in yet, the chance to work together again, and for Washington to star in a Western, would seem like a tempting opportunity.
Originally directed by John Sturges in 1960, The Magnificent Seven found the likes of Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Robert Vaughn as gunslingers who unite to help a Mexican village take on bandits. The movie itself was a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s seminal The Seven Samurai. John Lee Hancock and True Detective’s Nic Pizzolatto are among the writers who have worked on the script for this version so far, with Tony Scott attached to direct at one point and Tom Cruise previously considering the lead.
We’ll have to wait and see if this one works out in its current form, as we’ve been down this road before. Fuqua and Washington are more likely to reunite for the planned Equalizer sequel, which Sony has put into motion following good buzz for the first film, due out in the UK on September 26.