Exclusive: Denzel Washington Teaming With John Boyega In The Escape From The Equalizer Director
We've learned Denzel Washington and John Boyega will star in The Escape, directed by Antoine Fuqua.
When The Equalizer 3 hits theaters on September 1, it won’t be the final film collaboration between its star and director. Our trusted and proven sources tell us that Denzel Washington (The Book of Eli) has been cast alongside John Boyega (The Force Awakens) in The Escape. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) and produced by MGM, The Escape will see Washington and Boyega playing prisoners who come up with an elaborate escape plan.
Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua have been collaborating for decades, beginning with the 2001 Oscar-winning crime thriller Training Day. They’ve since worked together on all three films in the Equalizer franchise, and the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven.
Long before he began working with Denzel Washington, Fuqua made his bones directing music videos for acts like Toni Braxton, Prince, Arrested Development, Stevie Wonder, and Coolio among others. With a cast that included Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite), Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), and Danny Trejo (Machete), Fuqua made his feature directorial debut with 1998’s The Replacement Killers. Training Day came three years later, for which Washington won his second Oscar for Best Leading Actor (earning his first for 1999’s The Hurricane).
Unlike Denzel Washington, The Escape will represent John Boyega‘s first collaboration with Fuqua. While the young actor may still be best known for his rocky time as Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, he’s continuing to expand his reach in film and television. He recently appeared as King Ghezo in the acclaimed The Woman King and will soon reprise the role of gang leader Moses in Attack the Block 2.
For Denzel Washington’s career, things seem better than ever. While he seems much more selective in choosing his roles these days, the films he stars in are all promising. In 2021 he worked with Joel Coen for the first time in the critically hailed The Tragedy of Macbeth.
In more current news, Denzel Washington will reprise the role of Robert McCall in The Equalizer 3, which Fuqua directed and which includes a not-so-subtle nod to 2004’s Man on Fire with the casting of an older Dakota Fanning. In March Deadline reported Washington would be showing up for Ridley Scott’s epic sequel Gladiator 2.
While he reportedly won’t be involved in the show, Denzel Washington’s beloved thriller Man on Fire is being adapted into a series for Netflix. Few details about the project have been released, though former Halo showrunner Kyle Killen is taking the creative reins.
