Denzel Washington as Robert McCall in The Equalizer

 

I added that OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) element — we wrote it in and I sort of acted it out, though we trimmed some of it back. I decided that he was OCD as well... he’s got some peculiar habits. I was just trying to enrich the character a bit, and not just make it some shoot-em-up, kill, kill, kill, guns, guns, guns. And I think we did a good job of doing that — on his character Robert McCall

In 2001, Denzel Washington teamed up with director Antoine Fuqua for Training Day, which gave the actor his second Academy Award. Now, 13 years later, the director-actor duo come together for Friday film The Equalizer, an action thriller in which Washington stars as a retired black ops government operative who has to come out of hibernation to rescue a young girl (played by Chloe Grace Moretz) from a Russian mafia group. A chat with DW.

Congratulations on The Equalizer...

Antoine [Fuqua] did a great job. They wrote a good script first of all, and I was quite surprised. I signed off on it as soon as I read it... I said, ‘Yeah, this is great’.

What was it about the script that hooked you?

Todd Black (the film’s producer) and I had worked together. He produced both films I directed. He brought the first one to me, Antwone Fisher, and I brought the second one I directed to him, The Great Debaters, so we’d had a long relationship. I’ve known him for 20-odd years. He’s produced a lot of really good movies, and he’s a real player in this town and he’s been around a long time. He said he’d got the rights to this story and he wanted to develop it for me, and I said, ‘Okay’. It wasn’t like I just picked it up and read it at that point. I was like, ‘Alright, well just just let me know when you’re ready’. He said, ‘I don’t want to show you everything until I’m ready.’ He finally brought it to me a year or two later, I read it, and I called him as soon as I’d finished the last page and said, ‘When do we start?’ It was a really good script. It was more than I expected it to be.

Why do you like working with Antoine Fuqua?

Well, obviously with Antoine, we had great success with Training Day, so I think it was just a matter of coming together again at the right time, when the stars had aligned. He was at a good place in life and obviously knows how to make movies. This was a good fit for him, and in fact, I remember seeing his film, it was called The Replacement Killers (a 1998 film starring Chow Yun-fat and Mira Sorvino) and it was sort of his homage to John Woo, and that’s when we looked at him for Training Day. I knew he had a lot of visual style. He knows how to shoot, he knows how to put movies together, and we had a script that felt right for him and he delivered.

Quite grown up. Very professional and really about her business. I hope she doesn’t work too much, but it’s obvious why she does, because she’s very good and very professional and still a little girl. She’s still a teenager but she’s becoming a young woman. She’s really sweet and focused and did excellent work — on co-star Chloe Grace Moretz

What does the film take from the TV series of the same name?

Actually, I never watched the television series. I may have seen a bit of it as a kid, when I was younger, but I don’t remember the series, and we weren’t really looking to emulate the series. Basically it’s just the name. I guess it’s the same premise: the guy from somewhere obscure, a guy we don’t know much about, who equalises the situation. I guess in that regard it’s similar, but that’s about it. I didn’t do any research on it. I can’t speak for the writer and I don’t know how much he did.

Your character Robert is very much a loner. Did you help develop that side of him?

I added that OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) element — we wrote it in and I sort of acted it out, though we trimmed some of it back. I decided that he was OCD as well... he’s got some peculiar habits. I was just trying to enrich the character a bit, and not just make it some shoot-em-up, kill, kill, kill, guns, guns, guns. And I think we did a good job of doing that.

Two of my children (John David and Katia) are actors now, and I tell them, ‘You learn how to act on stage, not in movies’. Movies are a director’s medium. Stage, you’re directed, but once the curtain goes up, it’s you and the audience — on stage vs film

Did you research OCD?

Yeah, absolutely I researched OCD. It’s an interesting condition, and it affects people in different ways. I did more than is actually in the film. It’s an interesting peculiarity, and there’s different people who have different things — some people have to wash their hands, some people have to do certain things a certain number of times before they can function — just obsessive behaviour. It gave me a real handle, so that he’s not just some perfect guy. He’s got issues that he’s trying to overcome. It just makes it more interesting.

He has a very strong moral compass. Was that part of the appeal of the character for you?

Right... when he sees what’s happening to this young girl, Teri, he is compelled to help her because he does have that moral compass. I think that they’re kindred spirits. It’s an odd relationship, but he feels for her, and obviously sees who’s doing what to her — not just to her, but to the other girls as well.

It’s a very different role for Chloe Grace-Moretz. What was she like to work with?

Quite grown up. Very professional and really about her business. I hope she doesn’t work too much, but it’s obvious why she does, because she’s very good and very professional and still a little girl. Well, maybe she wouldn’t want me to say that. How old is she now? She’s still a teenager (17) but she’s becoming a young woman. She’s really sweet and focused and did excellent work.

You have a formidable bad guy in The Equalizer in Teddy, who really is very chilling. How was it playing against Marton Csokas?

(Laughs) He’s a great bad guy. It’s funny, there was some commercial out about how they always pick a Brit to play a bad guy and I didn’t think of that. Now I’m like, ‘Damn, maybe there’s something to that’. They’re great actors, coming from the theatre. I just worked with another one, Sophie Okonedo... just a wonderful actress. We can learn from the Brits. They get on that stage and they get the work done. That’s what we have to do, what we have to continue to do. I really believe actors learn how to act on stage, not in movies.

You’ve done a lot of stage work in your career, haven’t you? How important is the theatre for you?

I’ve worked on stage throughout, yeah. I just finished shows on Broadway on Sunday, a great run (in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin’ in the Sun). We won Tony Awards and Best Revival and all that. You get your muscles back. You get back to the basics. People are like, ‘How do you do that?’ I’m like, ‘How can I not?’ This is what I do. I’m an actor. Two of my children (John David and Katia) are actors now, and I tell them, ‘You learn how to act on stage, not in movies’. Movies are a director’s medium. Stage, you’re directed, but once the curtain goes up, it’s you and the audience. You’ve got to bring it. There's no, ‘Cut! Can we do another one?’

FILM FACTS

Robert McCall’s character had practically no backstory and Denzel Washington had to work extensively to give the character some flesh and purpose. For the character’s OCD quirks, Washington met and interviewed several people suffering from severe OCD.

The role of Teri, played by Chloe Grace Moretz, was initially written for a 24-year-old. But the 17-year-old

Kick-Ass actress impressed director Antoine Fuqua so much in the auditions, he promptly signed her on, rewriting the role to suit someone her age.

The film is based on a 1985-89 TV series of the same name, starring British actor Edward Woodward as Robert McCall.

The script was in development since 2005, with Russell Crowe initially slated to play McCall.

Released in the US in September this year, The Equalizer has won mixed reviews with Washington’s flair and Fuqua’s direction being singled out for praise.

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