TIFF opener’s seven magnificent things
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN RIDES INTO TORONTO
Denzel Washington brought The Equalizer to filmmaker Antoine Fuqua. Now, Fuqua is returning the favour with The Magnificent Seven. Like The Equalizer, The Magnificent Seven redo is premièring at the Toronto International Film Festival. Unlike The Equalizer, their latest cinematic collaboration is opening the festival.
Of course, The Magnificent Seven is based on the popular 1960 western which was inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s classic Seven Samurai released in the 1950s. In the new oater, Washington’s bounty hunter leads his gang of gunfighters. Their guns- forhire mission is to defend a town against an evil crew of reprobates led by a psychopathic industrialist (Peter Sarsgaard).
The film marks the third time Washington and Fuqua have j oined f orces. The f i rst t i me Washington earned an Oscar for his Training Day cop. Despite that familiarity, the cast and crew felt they were part of the new team.
“Antoine is that kind of director,” says Vincent D’Onofrio, who plays one of the hired guns. “He was including all of us in the discussion and constantly making sure we were making the same film.”
Here are seven more things you should know about The Magnificent Seven: 1. Trying to stay cool while learning the cowboy way is difficult.
Washington has played a hit man, a super agent, a soldier of fortune and a Civil War soldier, but he’s never been a cowboy in the old west. The punch ups were easy for him since he’s an avid boxer. The weapons were familiar thanks to his action past, and the horseback riding was all about practice. What the Oscar winner couldn’t get accustomed to was the heat where they filmed near Baton Rouge, La. “It was a mean summer,” says Washington after they wrapped shooting in 2015. “We had two weeks in a row over 100F degrees ( 38C). “And I was wearing all black with a black hat, black shirt, black vest, black pants, black horse and a black man on a black saddle.” 2. Nice is as nice does.
Chris Pratt continues his successful run playing a lovable lug. He’s also a full- time scene stealer in The Magnificent Seven. He gets lots of attention and more than a few laughs defining the all- in, hard- drinking gambler of the pack.
There’s more good news. Next spring, fans get to enjoy him in the highly anticipated release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and then the Jurassic World sequel in 2018. Despite his winning streak, Pratt continues to receive accolades from his colleagues. And that includes the hard-to-impress Washington. “I love this kid Chris Pratt,” he says. “It’s almost like he hasn’t realized what’s happened to him yet.” 3. The mountain of an actor plays a mountain of man who roars like a mouse.
At six- f oot- f i ve, D’Onofrio seems like the perfect choice to play the massive mountain man who throws tomahawks and skewers his victims with swords and knives. Imagine the reaction from his on- set band of brothers when he shows off the squeaky voice of his wilderness thug. Director Fuqua knew what was coming that first day but the actors didn’t.
“Nobody knew I was going to do it,” says D’Onofrio. “It caused a bit of a (laughing) rip. And I immediately knew by the reaction it was the right choice.” 4. The actress that nobody knows but will soon.
Haley Bennett has the lead female role in The Magnificent Seven. Also this fall, she’s featured in the film version of the acclaimed novel The Girl on the Train and Warren Beatty’s Rules Don’ t Apply. 5. Tenderfoots get rough and ready.
It was up to Jeff Dashnaw and his stuntmen wranglers to train the troupe of city slicker actors who had to look like experienced saddle tramps. They also had to learn how to hold and fire their specific weapons and fight in styles relating to their characters.
Obviously, riding a horse was key. So each of the seven actors tended to their own animals used in the film. The extra effort paid off. And there were no serious injuries, only a few bumps and a couple of bruised egos when a horse wouldn’t pay attention to an actor posing as a poised rider. 6. The dearly departed composer James Horner makes his mark by referencing the old Magnificent Seven soundtrack.
Horner, who died last year in a plane crash, had decided the new film should have a link to its past, so he features orchestral arrangements that recall Elmer Bernstein’s classic score from the 1960 film. Audiences will discover just how devoted he was to Bernstein at the new movie’s conclusion. 7. The times they are a- changin’.
In the 1960 The Magnificent Seven, the villain was a Mexican bandit chieftain (Eli Wallach). The 2016 bad guy is an American capitalist (Sarsgaard) determined to monopolize.