Denzel Washington and his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua celebrated the latest chapter of their ongoing partnership on Monday night with the New York City premiere of their new film The Equalizer.
Both Washington and Fuqua stressed that their prior collaboration, on the 2001 film for which Washington won the best actor Oscar, helped them quickly get into a groove.
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“We know each other, so there’s a shorthand. And he knows what he’s doing, so I don’t have to worry about what he’s doing; I just have to worry about what I’m doing and come to work with a fully realized character,” Washington told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet.
Later at the afterparty Fuqua said it was almost a seamless transition, despite the decade-plus gap between the two films.
“We can collaborate together equally,” the director told THR. “Obviously Training Day helps, but it’s all about trust. It was like we never stopped working together.”
The two also confirmed that they would be working together again, next year, on The Magnificent Seven.
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The Equalizer, which is getting an Imax release Friday, played in the giant-screen theater at the AMC Lincoln Square in Manhattan.
Imax CEO Rich Gelfond and Imax Entertainment CEO Greg Foster, who were on hand for the screening and posed with Fuqua in the photo below, said that Fuqua’s films are well suited to their format.
“The way [Fuqua] shoots movies … they’re kind of moody and [have] big scope and action to them. Great sound — sound’s a very big part of his design and that’s important too. It really lends itself to what we do,” Foster said.
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Gelfond added that Fuqua’s films are “the kind of movie that directors … say, ‘We want audiences to be part of the movie.’ “
Sony Pictures’ movie version of The Equalizer is an update of the ’80s TV series of the same name. In light of that, THR polled guests on their favorite ’80s series. While Fuqua admitted a fondness for a show that’s already been made into a movie, Miami Vice, Foster said he has an affinity for Magnum, P.I., a film version of which has long been rumored to be in the works.
Other stars spotted at the screening and Stone Rose Lounge afterparty included The Equalizer co-star Chloe Grace Moretz; Washington and Fuqua’s Training Day collaborator Ethan Hawke; Spike Lee; producer and New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch, who was overheard deflecting questions about the NFL’s domestic violence scandal; and Saturday Night Live‘s Jay Pharaoh, who was excited for the show’s 40th season, kicking off this week.
