He also discusses making 'Training Day,' getting Michelle Pfeiffer in the 'Gangsta's Paradise' music video & how he works on set in extended IMAX Q&A.
For the third and final entry of the franchise, Collider partnered with Sony and IMAX to offer readers a chance to catch Antoine Fuqua’s The Equalizer 3 on the big screen ahead of its official release. Following the screening, Editor-in-chief Steve Weintraub hosted an exclusive Q&A with the filmmaker to celebrate his past works, look to future projects, and dig into the final journey of Denzel Washington’s action icon, Robert McCall.
ANTOINE FUQUA: Probably Training Day. Training Day was really the film that was the most personal at that time in my life. I was looking for a movie like that. I was writing a story about a cat named Monster Kody, based on a book called Monster, but I couldn't get that film made. It was about the streets, an LA Crip, he started killing when he was 11 years old. It's an amazing story. I would have completely fucked it up though if I had got it made because I was focused on the wrong hero.
You've directed a number of things. Which of your films do you think changed the most in the editing room in ways you didn't expect? I wanna jump backward if you don't mind. Early in your career, you directed a lot of music videos. Is there one, besides Coolio and “Gangsta’s Paradise,” that really sticks out for you as one you wish more people would watch?
FUQUA: There's so many things that would surprise people about making a Hollywood movie. One of the things that's most surprising is how collaboration and working together is the only way you're gonna make a movie in Hollywood. The only way. You need so many people to do it. I tell PAs and everybody else, “This is your movie too. Your name's on it forever, as well.” You know what I mean? “So, get it together if that’s what you wanna do.
FUQUA: I've changed quite a bit. I'm much more patient. It's like an athlete; the game slows down a bit and you start seeing things differently – what I call rubber balls and glass balls, right? The rubber balls bounce back up, the glass balls break. You gotta know what's what. When I did that video, the movie became a big hit, and everyone thought the images in that film were in the movie, and that's when Hollywood started combining music videos, at that time, with the films. Monster Kody, the kid I was talking about, his son is actually in that video. I put him in there. So, that changed my life. The agents started calling after that, and you know, the whole Hollywood thing. For a long time, people thought I was this French director – you know, Antoine Fuqua.
FUQUA: Denzel himself is the draw, obviously. With Sony and the producers, Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal, at one point, we did a test asking people—a random test, I think they did a whole survey—what was most important to most people: money, fame, or justice? What do you think won? Justice. It's about justice. People want justice, even if it's in a Hollywood fun way. They want justice, and they want to see Denzel Washington dishing it out. But the bad guys have to be real bad guys.
The first one, when he puts the corkscrew in the guy, is because these guys were human trafficking little girls. Me and Denzel, I said, “I want you to see the light go out in this motherfucker's eyes,” you know? That's how evil this person is. And so the audience responds to that, and anybody who watches the movie feels the same, so you can get away with that because the bad guys were so bad.
FUQUA: The scope, you're never gonna see it like this ever again. The scope of this is just incredible. The sound. It's what you make movies for, to put it on a screen like this, to have this sort of shared experience in IMAX. You'll never see it again like this, you know? It's really important to experience it this way. This is what cinema is. This is what it's all about.
FUQUA: We only do what we really need. Three takes is a lot for me and Denzel. Like, three to four takes. There’s always some technical thing here or there. We both believe—and every actor’s different—you only get that moment once. That's what makes great actors great actors. You get that moment once. No matter what they're doing, it’s never gonna be the same. The more takes you do down the line, you start to burn out the rawness of it, the truth.
FUQUA: Bob Richardson is just a genius. You know, he has three Academy Awards, and he worked with the greatest directors, my heroes as well—Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese, and Quentin [Tarantino]. He's like a little wizard, man, with that gray hair. [Laughs] He's just magic, and he doesn't sleep, he's a lot like me. He's up all night sending me images and long texts, and sometimes I don't know what the fuck he's talking about, but he's brilliant.
How much do you let go, and are you willing to let your second unit director take on stuff, and how much are you like, “Fuck, I'm shooting that?”
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