Having given us the gritty crime thriller Training Day back in 2001, and the enjoyable reboot of The Equalizer only two years ago, it’s safe to say that Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington make a very successful actor/director team. So successful, in fact, that the duo is back for another outing this fall with Sony’s The Magnificent Seven, a remake of the classic western of the same name.
For those unfamiliar with the original, the plot of Fuqua’s new film revolves around Rose Creek, an Old West town which is taken over by a greedy industrialist named Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard). With no one else to turn to for help, the residents hire bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Washington) to save their town. Unable to take on Bogue alone though, Sam recruits several other men to help him with the task at hand, resulting in the titular group of heroes coming together to save the citizens of Rose Creek.
Though the film doesn’t hit theatres for another couple of weeks, our very own Matt Donato caught it at the Toronto International Film Festival recently and had the following to say about it in his review:
The Magnificent Seven is harmless Western fun set to a twangy orchestral score that brings John Wayne and Sergio Leone to mind.
During their time in Toronto, we were lucky enough to catch up with Ethan Hawke and Byung-hun Lee, who star as two members of the titular group. Together, they spoke about respecting the original film, if they felt a certain responsibility to do it justice, where they looked to for inspiration for their roles and much more.
Hear what they had to say in the video above and be sure to catch The Magnificent Seven when it rides into theatres on September 23rd.
For more on the film, you can also watch our interview with Denzel and Antoine and our interview with Chris Pratt and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo.