Ethan Hawke is reteaming with his Training Day director and Denzel Washington, plus Chris Pratt, for The Magnificent Seven.
NewsThe Magnificent Seven is a quintessential western of American mythmaking and even bigger American movie stardom. With a cast that included Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach, and more, it’s a wonderful yarn about seven hombres who attempt to liberate a Mexican village from oppression. It is also a remake of Akira Kurowsawa’s Seven Samurai, so the idea of redoing it yet again shouldn’t seem as blasphemous as it sounds.
At least director Antoine Fuqua found a neat way to change this narrative by positioning this Magnificent Seven reboot as also a Training Day reunion of sorts. It’s been a long spell since Ethan Hawke learned the hard lessons of policing the streets alongside Denzel Washington in that film which put Fuqua on the map and earned Washington his second Oscar. Indeed, since then Hawke has been nominated again for another Oscar just this past year for Boyhood.
In the meantime, Fuqua and Washington have since reunited for last year’s far less memorable The Equalizer, but both appear ready to climb into this saddle with a cast that also includes Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Haley Bennett (The Equalizer).
Even the script has some notable firepower behind it with Nic Pizzolatto of True Detective fame turning in the first draft, and John Lee Hancock (The Alamo, Saving Mr. Banks) doing a rewrite.
Time will tell if they hit their target.
