Acclaimed Director Fuqua And Academy Award Nominee Gyllenhaal Team Up In Boxing Movie "SOUTHPAW"

Acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day") and screenwriters Kurt Sutter ("Sons of Anarchy") and Richard Wenk ("The Mechanic") team up to tell a riveting story in  "Southpaw" about a boxer named Billy "The Great" Hope, reigning Junior Middleweight Boxing Champion of the World (played by Academy Award® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal). Billy Hope seemingly has it all with an impressive career, a beautiful and loving wife (Rachel McAdams), an adorable daughter (Oona Laurence) and a lavish lifestyle. When tragedy strikes and his lifelong manager and friend (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson) leaves him behind, Hope hits rock bottom and turns to an unlikely savior at a run-down local gym: Tick Willis (Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker), a retired fighter and trainer to the city's toughest amateur boxers. With his future riding on Tick's guidance and tenacity, Billy enters the hardest battle of his life as he struggles with redemption and to win back the trust of those he loves.

 “Southpaw” opens in Philippine cinemas this July 22 from Pioneer Films.  See the fight here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSojugY6aXQ

REEL DEAL: Gritty, Realistic Action Pay Off In “THE EQUALIZER”

To realize the action of Columbia Pictures’ new action-thriller “The Equalizer,” the conversations began between director Antoine Fuqua, Denzel Washington, and Keith Woulard, one of the film’s stunt coordinators.  “There’s a tendency in shooting action to shake the camera and move things around – the audience can’t tell what’s happening,” says Fuqua.  That’s just what they didn’t want to do.  “My goal was to take acting and make it action,” says Fuqua. 

Fuqua’s inspiration for the way he would shoot the action scenes with McCall, Denzel’s character, was inspired by his interaction with real-life boxers.  “I happen to have a very good friend who’s a great boxer – Sugar Ray Leonard,” he notes.  “He’ll tell stories, and you’ll realize how smart a boxer can be.  Sometimes they’ll touch you – hey, how you doin’ today? – and that’s their way of checking you out, seeing if you’re in shape, if they think you’re a threat.  Or they’re watching you a certain way, to see how you move, how your body language is, what your strengths and weaknesses are.  They can pick you apart.  McCall is trained that way, too – he notices these things and uses them to his advantage.  We had to show that.”

REEL DEAL: “THE EQUALIZER” Releases Extended Clip

Columbia Pictures has just released a five-minute extended clip from its upcoming action thriller “The Equalizer” which may be viewed at http://youtu.be/rg5HCaXlvJ8.

From Antoine Fuqua, director of “Training Day” and “Olympus Has Fallen” comes “The Equalizer” starring Denzel Washington.

In the film, Washington plays McCall, a man who believes he has put his mysterious past behind him to lead a quiet life in peace. But when McCall meets Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by – he has to help her. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer.