“Everyone in Hollywood behaves so badly”: Denzel Washington’s Squeaky Clean Image Took a Hit After Actor Fired Director from $104M Movie to Hire His Close Friend

The Hollywood star Denzel Washington and filmmaker Antoine Fuqua once again recently reunited for the third installment in The Equalizer trilogy. The movie, which was released last week in theatres, has been doing great, has recorded the highest opening weekend in the franchise’s history, and is also expected to become the highest-grossing movie in the franchise. The Equalizer threequel marks Fuqua and Washington’s fifth collaboration  Ethan Hawke, Denzel Washington, and Antoine Fuqua

However, before Fuqua got his hands on the Oscar-winning movie, writer-director Davis Guggenheim was working on the film. During an interview, the filmmaker revealed that it was actually the Training Day star who got him fired from the movie to get his friend, Antoine Fuqua, on board.

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Denzel Washington Replaced the Training Day Director

The 2001 crime drama starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke served as a critical breakthrough for its filmmaker, Antoine Fuqua. The movie was a commercial and critical hit and even won an Oscar for Best Actor at the 74th Academy Awards.

However, before The Equalizer director, Davis Guggenheim was set to direct the movie. During an interview with The A.V. Club, he shared that he was going to direct Training Day before Washington took over the project and demanded to replace the director of the movie.

“I was going to direct the movie Training Day, and I got fired. Denzel Washington didn’t want me to direct the movie,”  he said before adding, “Everyone in Hollywood behaves so badly.” It was one of the reasons he decided to focus on doing things he loved instead.

During an interview with The NY Times, he shared that he was the one who persuaded the studio to cast The Magnificent Seven actor in the movie. However, soon after he joined the project, he “had him fired.” He shared that it was the “most devastating” thing he experienced in his career so far.

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Antoine Fuqua on His Friendship With Denzel Washington

Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington have worked together on five projects, including Training Day, The Magnificent Seven, and The Equalizer trilogy. As he reunited with the actor for the third installment of the action franchise, the filmmaker talked about his friendship with the 68-year-old actor.

He shared that they have a lot of trust in each other, and it developed while working on their first film together. “There’s a rhythm that we created just naturally. And we made a promise never to tie each other’s hands so that we can both be experimental and creative without worry,” he said. The filmmaker claimed that it has allowed them both to make some creative changes while working.

Washington has also said that he always looks forward to working with Fugua while stating, “We’re brothers.” He further said that he completely trusts his friend and filmmaker and believes that he would do even great things in the future.

Training Day is available on Max.

The Equalizer 3 is playing in theatres.

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Source: The A.V. Club