Antoine Fuqua Had to Stop Denzel Washington from Doing Stunts on ‘The Equalizer 3’ Set: ‘You Have to Protect Him from Himself’
Christian Zilko
In recent years, Denzel Washington has devoted the bulk of his attention to performing the works of great playwrights like Shakespeare and August Wilson. But his latest turn in “The Equalizer 3” proves that he hasn’t lost his knack for action filmmaking. If anything, he was a little too eager to get back in the saddle as the revenge-seeking vigilante Robert McCall.
In a new interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, “The Equalizer 3” director Antoine Fuqua recalled working with Washington on the Italy-set sequel. The filmmaker said that Washington was not only willing to get dirty and perform his own stunts, but he often had to be stopped for his own safety.
“He’s still got it,” Fuqua said. “He trains every day. I’d have to tell Denzel, ‘Let me get the stunt guy to do this one,’ He’s like ‘I got it!’ You have to protect him from himself!”
While Fuqua didn’t want to be the filmmaker responsible for injuring the 68-year-old acting legend, he sees Washington’s insistence on pushing his physical boundaries as part of what makes him a movie star.
“There are very few actors who are on that level,” Fuqua said. “He’s just one of the greats, he’s a GOAT.”
“The Equalizer 3” marks the fifth collaboration between Fuqua and Washington, and the two men have never been shy about their positive experiences working together. In a recent interview with IndieWire’s Kate Erbland, Fuqua recalled that the way Washington empowered him during “Training Day” set the tone for his entire career.
“Our rhythm is like music. I guess the only way I could describe it, I would imagine it’s like two musicians that just pick up the instruments and go and they just start riffing and it flows,” he said of their relationship. “That’s been our relationship since ‘Training Day.’ And he set that tone [on the set of ‘Training Day’], I remember he was sitting at the table with Ethan [Hawke], and I said, ‘You want to come over and take a look [at the monitor]?’ It was my first scene with him, him and Ethan, I was scared to death. And Denzel was like, ‘You’re flying this plane, buddy. Call me when you need me,’ and got up walked away, and I just thought, ‘I can’t screw this up.’ Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. But that told me he trusted me.”
“The Equalizer 3” is now playing in theaters.
