Director Antoine Fuqua has a lot of films on his resume. He directed Denzel Washington to an Oscar for Training Day, has collaborated with the acclaimed actor on other projects, and it still upset at missing out on helming American Gangster.
The 56 year-old reveals the sentiment in a profile of him published by The Hollywood Reporter. At one point, Fuqua was due to direct the Washington-led picture, which was ultimately steered across the finish line by Ridley Scott. Fuqua exited the 2007 project due to creative differences with the studio, says he didn’t handle things how he should have.
“It breaks my heart just to say it out loud. I didn’t know enough then. I don’t think I navigated it the way I should have, or had a full perspective and understanding of the business, like the fiscal responsibilities and the pressure that everyone’s under, including the executives. You do have to pause and take in the big picture. That one got away from me, and that will always break my heart. That was a chance for me to work with Denzel again in the genre that I grew up loving.”
Later, Fuqua says he hopes to make a project with tension and an honest love, which he was motivated to do after seeing Out of Africa with Meryl Streep. He also dreams of giant epics in the vein of older Hollywood pictures like The Ten Commandments, and while he is happy with his Shaka: King of the Zulu show coming to Showtime, he did not get to be as involved as he would have liked, but things are fine for Fuqua as he has other projects going on he is also jazzed about.
“It kills me because I wanted to direct all the episodes, but I get to go work with Denzel again on Equalizer 3 in Italy. So, you know, I’m not crushed.”
The Equalizer 3 is set for release next year. As for American Gangster, it is available to stream on Peacock.