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This is the second R-rated action thriller in a row for you.
Where most filmmakers seem to struggle to get those made these days, youve done it.
So whats your secret?
I guess success with one helps get the other one done.
They see so much in videos and on YouTube ugly things.
I dont think you should filter it.
When I hear the word PG-13, I go, [resignedly] Nyaah.
So Im watching some of them and theyre pretty violent.
you could cut someones head off but you cant show breasts, which confuses me.
but because its done with CG, its a PG-13.
So I go, Wow.
Thats much more violent than punching a guy or stomping a guy in a room.
But they got a PG-13 because you dont see blood or something.
So Im completely confused by that balance.
I have to go one way, and Im better at doing that.
If I was making a PG-13 movie, then I would truly go at it with all my heart.
A PG-13 for kids to see.
Its all about character.
Were those scripted, or did you develop them with Denzel?
They werent in the script.
I developed them with Denzel.
He came up with it it was his idea.
We developed it further with the writer to incorporate it.
In the original script, he kept doing the thing with the watch, but it was never explained.
Then I started to see this character develop right in front of me.
Denzel said, Im gonna shave my head.
He should be low maintenance.
I said, I like that.
He just sees stuff.
All of a sudden, hed developed this guy.
He doesnt sleep at night, which means he has some issues hes not dealing with.
Hes real quiet, but completely compassionate.
What was your approach to the action?
Were you similarly hands-on with that?
I came up with a lot of craziness!
I got together with some friends who are professionals.
Our stunt guy, Keith, he was a Navy Seal.
And there was an MMA guy, a martial arts guy.
I just talked to these guys, and gave them scenarios and showed them the scene.
These guys do this thing all the time.
People like you and me, we look around for the most comfortable chair and whatevers best for us.
Their mind works differently than ours.
So I was incorporating things Id learned from them, and then I was talking to doctors and scientists.
Have you dealt with these guys?
When people get excited, what happens to the eye?
These people were great.
These types of guys, I learned, their heart rate goes down.
They find comfort in chaos.
Whereas you and I would be like, Get me out of here.
I want to get out of the room!
These guys go right at the action.
They go about it in a very calm, precise way.
Which is not normal theyre trained that way.
But you dont know much about his past that alone informs you that his life is different than yours.
Each time that happens, it becomes like a dialogue scene, as opposed to exposition.
Ill just show you something, in detail, that tells you who he is.
The audience is amazing, because they go with you.
The audience brings so much into the theatre, with all their knowledge and everything.
Hes the hero, but theres something in his eyes.
you could see it.
I call it sustained intensity.
Hes a gentle person even as a guy.
He laughs a lot.
Hes Shakespearean to me when I watch Denzel.
Its like a volcano in a bottle.
It can just erupt.
Thats a good thing, because what it means is theres promise for every scene.
Theres promise for the audience.
Where will he go?
What will he do?
Especially for this sort of story.
Theres promise in the next cut.
I think the audience, theyre smart.
They see action and superhero movies all the time, where the first scene has to have an explosion.
Lets not do that.
Its almost quiet, where hes working at the Home Mart.
I said, Hes an interesting actor.
And sometimes, people make a run at manipulate actors like that into letting the action drive the movie.
I said, Let the actors drive the movie.
The audience is patient.
When they come to see a Denzel Washington movie, theyll have patience.
I believe well see!
I liked the way it bides its time.
Ah, he wakes up before his alarm…
Thats right.
He gets up, his beds made perfectly.
Hes military, or at least disciplined, for sure.
He cleans his shoes with a toothbrush, which is something military guys do.
Hes shaving his head, so hes low-maintenance.
His clothes arent fancy.
He has his watch, and he sets it.
So theres a mystery right away.
See, its amazing what people see in two seconds.
Whereas sometimes films seem to want to over explain.
[Laughs]
Its a waste of valuable real estate on the screen.
But thats what cinema does, isnt it?
If you could describe a difference between cinema and TV, thats it.
Cinema gives you visual cues rather than heads telling you stuff.
Thats how it should be.
Everything about cinema should give you cues.
Every lens you pick tells a story.
If Im shooting you now with a 75mm long lens, it tells you a different story.
If I put an 18mm lens right close to your face, its going to tell another story.
Especially on a screen that big, in a movie theatre.
The audience gets it.
In the States rather than in Europe, I have to say.
When I see a European film, its really cool the way they take their time.
In the States, theres a tendency towards what I call fast food cinema.
I said, Well, people go to see characters.
Let it be a slow burn.
The writer wrote it that way as well.
Im just going, Why.
What are your memories of making that?
A lot of things happened on that movie.
I dont want to get too heavy, but I lost a kid when I madeTraining Day.
It was tense, every day making that movie.
I went through that [bereavement] as well, in the middle of shooting that movie.
My memories of that movie are so intense.
I needed to step away from it for a bit.
I knew all these gang members and so I needed to get myself away from that.
As a director, you immerse yourself, or I do.
You become a part of it.
Your lens is another character, and all of a sudden, you find yourself in it too much.
I had to pull away from it.
Thats my memory ofTraining Day.
So after that intense experience, what was it like to emerge from it and see the reaction?
I dont even remember it getting to the Academy Awards.
I remember going to the Academy Awards [ceremony].
[Laughs]
You know what I mean?
Because you just make the movie.
I never thought… Ethan [Hawke] reminded me of this I was just in the zone.
He came up to me at the Academy Awards and said, Dyou remember you told me about this?
And I said, I dont remember anything about it at all.
He said, I remember, and I thought you were fuckin losing your mind.
I thought you were going insane.
[Laughs]
He told me that, and I said, I dont know.
But I must have felt something, just in that one moment.
There was something there.
It was overwhelming, because no one knew me.
It was like, Hes the director… there you go.
In fact, my seat at the Academy Awards was a few rows back from Denzel.
Most directors are sitting right next to the star.
So I was like second class already.
My wife was like, How come youre not sitting next to Denzel?
I was like, Ahh, whatever.
Im at the Academy Awards.
Afterwards, he was like, How come you werent sitting next to me?
I just said, Whatever.
Id already gone off to doTears Of The Sun.
I just kept moving.
I flew out a couple of days later.
So I missed all the fun onTraining Day!
My memory was all about the work.
Denzel won the award, and Im happy.
Ive got something that I wont talk about here.
Im just trying to get it right.
But, phew, its really powerful.
This one is intense.
And different thanTraining Day.Very different characters.
So Im working on it.
Of imparting the flavour of a city.
Is that something you consciously consider?
I said, No, Bostons right.
To me, the city is the character, just as much as the actors.
They are not separate entities.
The actor, the city, the music, my lenses its all one entity.
Theyre all characters, they all play a part of how you feel when you view it.
Then the Boston bombing happened.
I remember thinking, Bostons a great place, because its kind of known for Harvard and education.
Its known to be one of the most European cities in America because its among the oldest.
People eat clam chowder and stuff.
But Boston has secrets.
Boston has all the Irish gangsters whove always been there.
And now they have the Russian gangsters.
I thought about Boston, the ports.
Anyplace with ports and water always has the other elements.
And its a very working class, blue collar city.
A guy could just blend in and nobody would really notice him.
So Boston played a big role.
LA played a big role inTraining Day.The environment is just as important as casting.
The other thing I thought aboutThe Equalizerwas that its very much a vigilante movie…
I dont really see it that way, but lets talk about that.
It struck me that America makes them so well.
I wondered if you thought that was because theyre derived from westerns.
I think they come from westerns.
I grew up with westerns.
But I… youve made me realise that.
I think youve made me figure out something.
I grew up with westerns, watching them with my grandmother.
Normally the sheriff was a rascal and wasnt doing his job or he was a weasel.
Then he takes the mayors hat and puts it on his head.
I think those influenced me for a long time.
Then when I was growing up I had a love-hate relationship with police officers as a kid.
Whether it be colour or just feeling powerless.
I think that has a lot to do with it.
In America, to answer your question, theres… we have a system that works.
Because if it didnt, thered be total chaos.
And we have very good people doing their jobs.
Certainly where I come from, theres a certain suppression of people.
At times, you know?
America is a place of the western: big skies, the American Dream.
you could get it you just have to search yourself and do these things.
But then it turns out not to be true for certain people.
Because the idea of America that is always placed on us is not true.
I mean, some people are highly educated, go to private school, but other kids cant.
The playing field is not level.
So the frustration kicks in.
Whereas in a lot of European countries, they put a lot more into the education system.
A lot of people can get an even education, so to speak.
Obviously, if youve got money, it’s possible for you to get more.
Whereas in the United States, we have these pockets.
Its the haves and have-nots.
But yet its the American Dream.
In a western, you’ve got the option to stake in the land and claim it.
But thats not true, right?
Even if theyre a little whacky, theyre right about what theyre saying.
Training Day I grew up with that.
I know that guy.
That guy choked me out before.
I was just a kid who was playing basketball and walking home with my friends.
You just go, Well, what is that?
Its all about the abuse of power.
Like you just saw in Ferguson in the United States.
Here, you have cops on horses, I dont think they have guns.
It seems to be that theres a certain amount of honour and pride in the oath you take.
Even guys that are waiters, in Europe.
Its for life its a craft.
Its hard to find that in the States.
In New York it’s possible for you to, because its a lot older world there.
So Im saying theres a different perspective of justice.
I hadnt thought about the American Dream inTraining Day.It shows how the American Dream can be somehow toxic.
Rogers a bad guy.
Put a couple of bullets in him.
He was selling drugs to kids.
Thats right fuck him.
Hes a bad guy.
But not like that.
Put him through the system.
We do have a system.
Lets do it ourselves, and take the money.
Its a murder scene of a drug dealer, and everybodys happy.
Thats the American Dream.
Thats the opportunity we take.
Its wrong in every way.
Thats why me and Denzel Denzel especially, he said, This guy has to die violently.
The wages of sin is death.
And I said, Absolutely, man.
Well take him out.
We took him out in the worst way.
Because thats the point!
[Publicists arrive at the door]
Im going to take a stab at sneak in one more question.
I got your back.
What have you got next?
Because Ive heard that you might be making anotherEqualizerif this ones popular.
But also youre doingThe Magnificent Seven.
Were certainly doingThe Magnificent Seven,me and Denzel.
Were both locked into that.
Im excited about that.
Is that going to be a western or are you going to modernise it?
Oh, its going to be a western.
Oh yeah, man.
Im shooting on film, anamorphic.
Were going for it.
Im gonna do what I did onTraining Dayto a western.
BecauseTraining Days about cops, and Im going to do that with cowboys, my way.
So Im excited about that.
I would love to make another [Equalizer], absolutely.
I think he can travel anywhere.
He may be in London, working down the sandwich shop.
He could be here helping someone.
Theres a bigger world to Robert McCall, in my opinion.
But, my dream would be for him to evolve, and become more international.
Antoine Fuqua, thank you very much for your time.
The Equalizeris out in UK cinemas on the 26th September.
