‘Magnificent Seven’ Reunites ‘Training Day’ Stars Ethan Hawke And Denzel Washington
TheMagnificent Sevenremake is also going to be aTraining Dayreunion.Ethan Hawkehas just joined hisTraining DaydirectorAntoine Fuquaand co-starDenzel Washingtonon the project, which also starsChris PrattandHaley Bennett. More details on theMagnificent SevenEthan Hawke casting after the jump.
Varietyreports Hawke is in final negotiations for the MGM project.The Magnificent Sevenis based on John Sturges' 1960 film starring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen, which itself was a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 filmThe Seven Samurai.True DetectivecreatorNic Pizzolattowrote the new script, with rewrites byThe Blind Sidewriter-directorJohn Lee Hancock.
Set shortly after the Civil War, the upcomingMagnificent Sevenunfolds in a small town being taken over by a gold mining baron and his thugs. After her husband is murdered, Bennett’s character hires a bounty hunter (Washington) to get rid of the bad guys. He, in turn, rounds up six more gunmen to help. Assuming Hawke and Pratt are both playing good guys, that leaves four more gunslingers to go.
Hawke, Washington, and Fuqua’s 2001 team-upTraining Dayalso unfolded in the wild west, if not the Wild West — it followed two LAPD officers on the mean streets of LA. It turned out to be a big hit, earning a solid $100 million at the box office and leading to a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Hawke and a Best Actor Oscar win for Washington. No surprise MGM wants a bit of that magic.
Hawke is now fresh off of his second acting Oscar nomination (and fourth overall) forBoyhood. He’s just wrapped the Chet Baker biopicBorn to Be Blueas well as the Alejandro Amenábar thrillerRegression, and has several more films due out in the near future including Andrew Niccol’sGood Kill.
