... on 'The Magnificent Seven' (2016):
Re-imagining of the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven (1960), which itself was a re-imagining of Seven Samurai (1954).
This film is not actually a remake of the 1960 classic, but rather a re-imagining, as all of the seven in this film are original characters and not reincarnations.
Composer James Horner collaborated on this film after he and director Antoine Fuqua became close friends during the making of Southpaw (2015). According to Fuqua, Horner's team visited him on the film's set in Baton Rouge (one month after Horner's accidental death) to deliver the completed score. Horner had been so inspired after reading the script that he composed the score entirely during pre-production.
Denzel Washington's and Chris Pratt's first western film. Christian Bale was approached about a role.
Wagner Moura (star of Netflix's NARCOS) was originally cast as Vasquez, one of the Seven, but the character was later recast for unknown reasons and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo took over the role.
Some areas of Baton Rouge where filming took place, had to be re-landscaped in order for it to resemble that of the 'Old West'
Per Moviefone, In the remake, Denzel inherits the iconic Yul Brenner role of team leader, overseeing a diverse crew of hired guns that include Chris Pratt, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Byung-Hun Lee. The seven enlist to protect a small town's population from the greedy and tyrannical industrialist Bogue, played by "made-to-be-a-villain" Peter Sarsgaard. Securing a diverse cast was important to the director, in terms of distinguishing the remake from the original for modern audiences.
It's a PG-13 Western, as Fuqua always intended it to be. But it's "right on the edge," the director said. "We're not going for gore." Washington is great, as always, and it's also worth noting that audiences have never seen Chris Pratt in this type of role before. We're interested in seeing a lot more of Pratt's dynamic with the team, especially with Denzel and Hawke's characters.
TRIVIA source: IMDb unless otherwise noted
