5/28/2014

Antoine Fuqua to Direct 'Narco Sub'; Circles 'The Magnificent Seven' Remake


Antoine Fuqua is what we like to call a "hired gun" director. He's solid enough, good enough to stay plenty busy, but doesn't have a particular style to get pigeonholed into. And that's why his name often pops up for wildly different types of films. His next film is The Equalizer, starring Denzel Washington in a remake of the '80s TV series, and after that he'll direct the boxing drama, Southpaw. And now he's looking to add a couple more projects that have absolutely nothing in common.

Fuqua is on board to direct Narco Sub, a narcotics thriller the late Tony Scott was attached to before his sudden passing. Doug Liman considered it for awhile, too, but now it will be Fuqua at the helm for the film set in the world of drug smuggling. The title refers to the submersible crafts South American drug cartels use to smuggle drugs into the U.S. David Guggenheim (Safe House) wrote the first draft of the script with Simon Kinberg (X-men: Days of Future Past) and Anthony Peckham (Sherlock Holmes) giving it a rewrite.

Also, Fuqua is said to be eying that remake of The Magnificent Seven nobody wants to see happen. Tom Cruise was briefly set to star but he rode out of town just as John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) came aboard to write the screenplay. But if Fuqua's name is getting mentioned that mean the project is still very much on, sadly.  [Deadline]