http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/son...-for-denzel-washington-to-play-the-equalizer/
Bit of a turn-up for the books this one:
No doubt many readers will remember the original show, with its distinctive soundtrack, by former Police drummer Stewart Copeland and, of course, the late great Edward Woodward in the lead.
Truth be told, shorn of those elements, there wasn't an awful lot about it that was all that good. Woodward played an ex secret agent (many liked to speculate that he was actually Callan, the titular character he'd played many years earlier) under an alias), who wanted to make up for the evil he had done by helping the vulnerable. I don't think an awful lot separated it from your usual vigilante shows.
Presumably the producers must think that the name has some box office clout or they could just have put Denzil in a brand new, if derivative show (his character in Man on Fire was quite similar to how this one is described). If they'd wanted this to be a faithful adaptation of the original show, they would have cast someone like Timothy Dalton or Ian McShane in the lead. Denzil's American Gangster co-star Russell Crowe was linked to the lead at one stage. I suppose we should be grateful that it's not Liam Neeson, who seems to be the go-to guy for this kind of role these days!
Denzil is always good value-for-money - the producers must agree too, paying him $20m on a budget of $50m (the article suggests that he's about the only actor they're willing to pay big bucks to star in mid-budget dramas too any more).
Thoughts? Perfect casting? Blasphemy? Indifference?
Bit of a turn-up for the books this one:
No doubt many readers will remember the original show, with its distinctive soundtrack, by former Police drummer Stewart Copeland and, of course, the late great Edward Woodward in the lead.
Truth be told, shorn of those elements, there wasn't an awful lot about it that was all that good. Woodward played an ex secret agent (many liked to speculate that he was actually Callan, the titular character he'd played many years earlier) under an alias), who wanted to make up for the evil he had done by helping the vulnerable. I don't think an awful lot separated it from your usual vigilante shows.
Presumably the producers must think that the name has some box office clout or they could just have put Denzil in a brand new, if derivative show (his character in Man on Fire was quite similar to how this one is described). If they'd wanted this to be a faithful adaptation of the original show, they would have cast someone like Timothy Dalton or Ian McShane in the lead. Denzil's American Gangster co-star Russell Crowe was linked to the lead at one stage. I suppose we should be grateful that it's not Liam Neeson, who seems to be the go-to guy for this kind of role these days!
Denzil is always good value-for-money - the producers must agree too, paying him $20m on a budget of $50m (the article suggests that he's about the only actor they're willing to pay big bucks to star in mid-budget dramas too any more).
Thoughts? Perfect casting? Blasphemy? Indifference?
When all's said and done the Equalizer is far less original. In fact you could say the only original thing it did was take an oldish English lead and make him an action hero. If they're just going to replace him with Washington that's negated. Callan aside the whole point was that Woodward didn't neccesarily look like he could kick your arse, whereas Washington obviously does. No issue with ethnicity, I just think it'd make more sense to get an older actor in.
