Seven Nation Army

The Magnificent Seven director Antoine Fuqua tells F*** about his journey to the west.

- Jedd Jong

This year, a cursory glance at major blockbusters indicates teamwork is in vogue – Captain America: Civil War had audiences choose sides between Team Cap and Team Iron Man, X-Men: Apocalypse saw our mutant heroes joining forces once more, Suicide Squad introduced us to a motley crew of supervillains and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story tells of a ragtag band of Rebels on a crucial, top-secret mission.

One of the most iconic teams to stride across the big screen rides again in the remake of The Magnificent Seven. Director Antoine Fuqua was in Singapore as part of the Sony Summit in July. During the press conference at the ArtScience Museum in Marina Bay Sands and the subsequent roundtable interview, he spoke with F*** about taking on the daunting task of remaking a well-regarded classic.

Fuqua’s filmography includes action thrillers such as Olympus Has Fallen, Shooter and The Replacement Killers. He directed Denzel Washington in Training Day, for which Washington took home a Best Actor Oscar, and reunited with the actor on The Equalizer, a big-screen adaptation of the ‘80s TV show. Washington leads the ensemble cast of The Magnificent Seven, which also comprises Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Peter Sarsgaard and Haley Bennett.

The Magnificent Seven is a remake of the 1960 Western of the same name directed by John Sturges, starring notable Hollywood tough guys Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and Robert Vaughn. That film was itself a remake of legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 adventure Seven Samurai, set during the Warring States period in 16th Century Japan.