STACK #230 December 2023

MOVIE FEATURE

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important to do that. At one point, there was the old Hollywood fable that - especially films with African-American people - it had to be based in some urban setting in the United States. And I’ve never believed that. I wanted to place Denzel, who is international, in an international setting.” Furthermore, The Equalizer 3 also serves to reunite Washington with Dakota Fanning, 29, who was just ten years old when the two first co-starred in Tony Scott’s Man on Fire . ”I think her agent had called, and she wanted to meet me,” reveals Fuqua, who eventually cast Fanning as a young CIA agent who travels to Italy for a case, where she initially finds himself out of her league but finds her feet with the help of McCall. ”So, I met with Dakota and fell in love with her right away,” Fuqua continues. ”I could see what Denzel loved so much about her. And then when I called Denzel and said, ’Hey, what do you think about Dakota playing a role?’ and he was tickled about it. He just started laughing, and said that would be great. He said, ’She’s a grown woman now!’ Like you could just see he was almost like a proud dad or something, and he couldn’t quite wrap his brain around it until I had them in the first scene together. I watched their rhythm, and every once in a while, he would just laugh and go ’Look at her!’ Like he couldn’t believe she was challenging him in his scene

Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning reunite for The Equalizer 3 . Words: Gill Pringle

W e’ve seen Denzel Washington’s kidnappers over two previous films, but this time he takes on the granddaddy of them all: the Italian Mafia. The Equalizer 3 finds McCall enjoying retirement in Naples when he discovers that his friends are being controlled by local crime bosses. When we ask director Antioine Fuqua if he was afraid to take on the Mafia, he laughs, ”I’ve been around that sort of thing most of my life. What I learned is that it’s similar. They’re all the same everywhere around the world, whether they’re Russian, Italian or African-American gangs. Whatever. They’re all taking advantage of other people,” says the director, who first worked with Washington two decades ago on 2001’s Training Day . ”What I found interesting about the Italian Mafia in Naples is they really have a stronghold, obviously - but they’re young, very young,” Fuqua adds. ”I’ve heard people call them barbarians. Even the Mafia call them the barbarians, because they’re younger and a little more aggressive.” Talking about taking the Equalizer story out of the US and setting it in Italy, Fuqua says, ”I have always wanted to make a film in Italy, or a more international story about the Equalizer. I think it’s mysterious Equalizer character take on Russian gangsters, assassins, and

now, from that little girl in the car. ”[Denzel] was very protective of her and she was very respectful of him, and they would crack jokes in the middle of the scene, the inside jokes that they had,” Fuqua says. ”It was really special.”

• The Equalizer 3 is out Dec 13

Denzel Washington regrets turning down the lead role in David Fincher’s SE7EN , on account of the material seeming too dark, and the director being a rookie. DYK?

50 DECEMBER 2023

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