The star-studded western will be festival’s opening night film.
We've already heard lots of favorable buzz about The Magnificent Seven, director Antoine Fuqua's remake of John Sturges’ classic 1960 western. And now we have a very promising sign that there’s more to the buzz than Hollywood hype: The prestigious Toronto International Film Festival announced Tuesday morning that the eagerly awaited action-adventure will have its world premiere Sept. 8 as the festival’s opening night attraction.
Written by Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk, this new version of the 1960 drama — which was itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) — resets the familiar narrative in Rose Creek, a western town under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard). The desperate townspeople, led by Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers, and hired guns: Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington), Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt), Goodnight Robicheaux (C&I cover guy Ethan Hawke), Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio), Billy Rocks (Byung-Hun Lee), Vasquez (Manuel Garcia Rulfo), and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier). As they prepare the townspeople for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money.
“We are pleased to welcome acclaimed filmmaker Antoine Fuqua back to the festival,” TIFF director and CEO Piers Handling said in a prepared statement, “and have been proud to present audiences with his feature films, including Training Day and The Equalizer. Fuqua has delivered an exciting character-driven film on a grand scale, while putting his own unique spin on the genre, making for a thrilling opening night.”
TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey added: “Fuqua’s ability to effortlessly blend visceral action and the emotion of drama is what makes him such a compelling storyteller, and this film is no exception. With an incredible ensemble cast who deliver commanding performances, our audience is certainly in for a ride.”
The Magnificent Seven will be released Sept. 23 in theaters across North America.
