TRAINING DAY

[Pedro]

Absolutely love Training Day.  Saw it when it came out and I now own it.  One of my top films for 2001.  I've still yet to find the major problems with the 3rd act, but that's all right.

Pedro, you the MAN! This film is nearly flawless.  I saw nothing wrong with the 3rd act....and the car dialogue is fucking GREAT!

no no punchy...YOU the man!

[MacGuffin]

Washington & Fuqua Reteaming for Superfly
Source: Variety

Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua are in talks to reunite on a biopic of Harlem heroin kingpin Frank Lucas. Under the working title The Return of Superfly, the film is being produced by Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment for Universal Pictures.

Lucas grew up in rural, segregated North Carolina. In the early 1970s, he became the biggest heroin dealer in Harlem with a smuggling scheme that imported the stuff out of Southeast Asia in the caskets of Vietnam soldiers.

The script, written by Steven Zaillian, centers on narcotics lawman Richie Roberts' struggle to bring down Lucas, whose flamboyant style earned him the street name "Superfly." Lucas goes on to help Roberts hunt down dirty cops and overseas connections.

Imagine and Universal hope to go into production on "Superfly" late this summer. Washington and Fuqua last collaborated on 2001's Training Day, for which Washington received an Oscar.

[AA_Princess]

Hi, just browsing and I'm surprised that there hasn't been talk of how brilliant Denzel was in this movie.  In Training Day, Denzel did some of the best acting I've seen for a long time!  Does anyone agree?

[NEON MERCURY]

Hi, just browsing and I'm surprised that there hasn't been talk of how brilliant Denzel was in this movie.  In Training Day, Denzel did some of the best acting I've seen for a long time!  Does anyone agree?

training day was good.and i enjoyed the film...but for denzel he was mmmuuuuccchhh better in HURRICANE.....

[MacGuffin]

Fuqua Ditches Denzel
In the wake of director Antoine Fuqua’s departure from American Gangster, Universal scraps plans for ambitious crime film starring Denzel and Benicio del Toro.

Sometimes, a gangster can get taken down by his closest friends.

American Gangster, a big-budget crime film intended to star Denzel Washington and Benicio Del Toro, has been shut down a mere month before it was supposed to start filming. Director Antoine Fuqua, who directed Washington to an Oscar with Training Day, appears to have set the wheels in motion when he abandoned the film just days ago over “creative differences”. Now Universal Pictures, which was to have put out the gangster flick, has decided instead to say goodbye to their little friend.

Written by Steve Zaillian (Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York), the film was to be produced by uber-producer Brian Grazer. The Gangster script is based on the story of Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas, who rose to power while smuggling heroin into the country in the caskets of deceased Vietnam soldiers being returned to America. After an arrest that came at the hands of New York detective Richie Roberts, Lucas turned on the drug associates and dishonest police who facilitated his drug-running scheme.

According to Daily Variety, Washington was to have played Lucas to Del Toro’s Roberts. Both actors had pay-or-play deals intact that will now need to be settled.

The last several days were reportedly filled with frantic studio executives trying to find a replacement for Fuqua. With the main consideration being an ability to envision the violent crime film as something that could appeal to a broader audience, however, Universal found the job a difficult one to fill. Ultimately, the studio decided it best to not allow the film’s budget to approach an $80 million range that it deemed as difficult to recoup at the box office.

"We thank the actors and crew who worked on this project for their time and dedication," a Universal spokesman said. "We look forward to making future projects with Denzel Washington, Benicio Del Toro and all of the individuals that were involved in the development of this project."

Del Toro and Washington will move on to the next projects on their busy production schedules; American Gangster now sleeps with the fishes.