For Antoine Fuqua And Denzel Washington, It's All About Trust
Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington want audiences to enjoy their movies with popcorn and a coke. It's as simple as that. The two first collaborated on "Training Day," and since then, they've kept a good thing going with the "Equalizer" films and "The Magnificent Seven." With talks underway for another "Equalizer" film, thank the Lord, that relationship will only continue to grow.
Washington remains one of the few movie stars that draw eyes to a big screen. Nobody else has his magnetism, and Fuqua captures it in all its glory, especially when the actor towers over bullies in "The Equalizer" films. It's a joy watching Washington dominate a room, and when he does, according to Fuqua, have popcorn and a coke ready. "I learned some of that from him, from D," Fuqua told /Film.
"Yeah, he just said, 'Yeah, man, let's have some popcorn and coke and sit down and watch the rough cut.' He would sit and watch the rough cut by himself in the theater. When I show the rough cut, I'm nervous, like, 'All right, I'm going to show you the first cut...' He would go in the theater by himself, no one else around, and he would just get some popcorn and coke and watch the movie."
'It's Just Trust'
Washington is one of the trio of actors Fuqua has connected with over the years, including Ethan Hawke and the star of his latest film, "The Guilty," Jake Gyllenhaal. The filmmaker knows he's going to get the best out of them for one simple reason. "It's just trust," he said. "Denzel, Jake, Ethan and any of the guys, it's trust. Whatever they see in me I'm grateful and humbled by it because they trust me, and I trust them. But that's what the key element is, trust. They know I'm going to protect them. They're going to bring their A-game. And they know I'm going to take what they give me and go into my editing bay with my editor and I'm going to shape that. Without that you really don't have much, without that trust."
The trust runs deep enough that Fuqua doesn't need to tell those actors everything on his mind before cameras start to roll.
"They know I have a vision in my head. They know there's always some metaphor somewhere, I got something else I want to say. We don't talk about it. It comes out in interviews. Denzel will go, 'That's the movie you was making in your head?' I'm like, 'Yeah, man.' Same thing with Jake on 'The Guilty,' I'll see him sit there and go, 'Hmm,' like he didn't know, that sort of thing. So I told Jake, 'The Guilty,' I said, 'That's Dante's Inferno, he's dying.' That's what that journey is. So sometimes it comes out in these interviews because I have all my notes but we don't discuss everything sometimes."
When Fuqua and Washington, in particular, will reunite isn't confirmed just yet. However, when we told Fuqua we hope he makes at the very least seven more "Equalizer" films, he confirmed another sequel is in discussions. It can't get made soon enough.