Antoine Fuqua

Antoine Fuqua
Fuqua at the 2016 TIFF
Born	January 19, 1966 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Film director, film producer
Years active	1992–present
Spouse(s)	Lela Rochon (1999–present)
Children	3

Antoine Fuqua (born January 19, 1966) is an American film director and producer. Initially active as a music video director, he has worked primarily in the action and thriller film subgenres, and is best known for his 2001 Academy Award-winning film Training Day.

Life and career

Fuqua was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Carlos and Mary Fuqua. He is the nephew of record producer and executive Harvey Fuqua of The Moonglows. After going to school for electrical engineering, with the hope of going on to fly jets in the military,^[1] Fuqua began his career directing music videos for popular artists like Toni Braxton, Coolio, Stevie Wonder, and Prince. From 1998 onwards, he began directing feature films, although he has worked on a few music videos since then.

His first feature film was the John Woo-produced action film The Replacement Killers (1998), starring Chow Yun Fat. He then directed the crime thriller Training Day (2001), for which star Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for Best Actor. His next films were the action war drama Tears of the Sun (2003), the Arthurian legend film King Arthur (2004), the conspiracy action thriller Shooter (2007), the crime film Brooklyn's Finest (2010), and the action thrillers Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and The Equalizer (2014), the latter of which pairs Fuqua with Denzel Washington again. His most recent film is the action western The Magnificent Seven (2016).

Fuqua at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival

He co-created the comic book miniseries After Dark with Wesley Snipes, which was written by Peter Milligan and illustrated by Jeff Nentrup.^[2]

Fuqua was scheduled to direct Prisoners,^[3] based on a storybook from Aaron Guzikowski, but left the project.^[4] He was slated to direct Tupac Shakur's official biopic.^[5] The project was postponed to allow Fuqua to direct rapper Eminem's second feature film, Southpaw.^[6] However, Eminem put Southpaw on hold to focus on music,^[7] and was replaced with Jake Gyllenhaal.

In 2010, CBS Films hired Fuqua to direct a new movie based on a Vince Flynn novel, Consent to Kill.^[8] In May 2014, 20th Century Fox set Fuqua to direct a drug smuggling thriller film Narco Sub which is scripted by David Guggenheim.^[9]

In March 2011, Fuqua signed on to direct a film featuring the romantic love story between Consort Yang Yuhuan and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty.^[10][11] As reported in March 2013, he has stated that he's awaiting for the film project to go through the appropriate Chinese government channels before directing the historical epic film, currently known as The Tang Dynasty.^[12]

In 2016, Fuqua directed The Magnificent Seven, a remake of the 1960 western of the same name and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, on which the western was based. This was the third of Fuqua's films starring Denzel Washington, who plays the lead role of Sam Chisolm.^[13] He was also the executive producer of the 2016 television remake of Roots.

Personal life

In 1998, he and actress Lela Rochon were engaged and they married on April 9, 1999.^[14] Daughter Asia Rochon Fuqua was born on July 28, 2002, followed by son Brando in May 2004. Fuqua has a son Zachary, from a previous relationship.

Filmography

Year	Title	Notes
1998	Replacement Killers, TheThe Replacement Killers
2000	Bait
2001	Training Day
2003	Tears of the Sun
2004	King Arthur
2007	Shooter
2010	Brooklyn's Finest	Also executive producer
2013	Olympus Has Fallen	Also producer
2014	The Equalizer
2015	Southpaw	Also producer
2016	The Magnificent Seven	also executive producer

Music videos

• "Love's Taken Over", Chanté Moore (1992)
• "It's Alright", Chanté Moore (1992)
• "All I See", Christopher Williams (1992)
• "Saving Forever for You", Shanice (1993)
• "The Morning After", Maze featuring Frankie Beverly (1993)
• "Nobody Does It Betta", Mint Condition (1993)^[15]
• "Ain't Nobody", Jaki Graham (1994)
• "Somewhere", Shanice (1994)
• "I'm In The Mood", CeCe Peniston (1994)
• "Deep Down", Ladae (1994)^[16]
• "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", Prince (1994)
• "Sending My Love", Zhané (1994)
• "United Front", Arrested Development (1994)
• "For Your Love", Stevie Wonder (1995)
• "Freedom", Various Artists (1995)
• "Gangsta's Paradise", Coolio (1995)
• "Someday", All-4-One (1996)
• "Bedtime (Version 2)", Usher Raymond (1998)
• "Blue Angels", Pras (1999)
• "Citizen Soldier", 3 Doors Down (2007)
• "Mirror", Lil Wayne (2011)

Commercials

• Pirelli Tires – "The Call" (2006), featuring Naomi Campbell and John Malkovich

Other

• Inside Out IV (1992)
• Usher Live (1999)
• From Toni with Love: The Video Collection (2001)
• Lightning in a Bottle (2004)
• Murder Book (2005)
• The Call (2006)

Reception

Critical, commercial, and audience reception to films Fuqua has directed:

Film	Rotten Tomatoes[17]	Metacritic[18]	CinemaScore[19]	Budget	Box office[20]
The Replacement Killers	36%	42	B-	$30 million	$19.2 million
Bait	26%	39	A-	$51 million	$15.47 million
Training Day	72%	70	B+	$45 million	$104.9 million
Tears of the Sun	33%	48	A-	$75 million	86.5 million
King Arthur	32%	46	B	$120 million	$203.6 million
Shooter	48%	53	B+	$61 million	$95.7 million
Brooklyn's Finest	43%	43	C	$17 million	$36.4 million
Olympus Has Fallen	48%	41	A-	$70 million	$161 million
The Equalizer	61%	57	A-	$55 million	$192.3 million
Southpaw	60%	57	A	$25 million	$92 million
The Magnificent Seven	63%	54	A-	$90 million	$134.5 million

References

1. nthWORD Magazine, April, 2010
2. "Cover Artwork for After Dark Comic Issues No. 0 and #1". DreadCentral.
3. Eugene Driscoll. "750 Extras Needed For 'Prisoners'". Valley Independent Sentinel.
4. "Missing Star Causes 'Prisoners' Delay". BloodyDisgusting.
5. Production On Tupac Film To Begin This Spring Archived September 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. AllHipHop.
6. "Eminem's boxing movie may delay the Tupac Shakur biopic yet again". AV Club. June 7, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
7. "Eminem cancels Southpaw".
8. "Antoine Fuqua Helming Consent to Kill". ComingSoon.
9. Fleming Jr, Mike (30 May 2014). "Antoine Fuqua Attached To Fox Drug Trafficking Thriller 'Narco Sub'". deadline.com. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
10. ""Training Day" director to tell Chinese love story". China Cultural Industries. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
11. Chu, Karen (March 27, 2011). "Antoine Fuqua to direct Chinese concubine romance". Reuters. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
12. Toro, Gabe (11 March 2013). "Antoine Fuqua Says '24' Movie Is Dead, Still Waiting On The Script For Tupac Shakur Biopic". Indiewire.
13. "'Magnificent Seven' Director On Staying True To The Original Film's Message" (Interview with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air). Retrieved 2016-09-23.
14. "Lela Rochon". Hollywood.com. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
15. Fuqua, Antoine. "Mint Condition - "Nobody Does It Betta"". music video. mvdbase.com. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
16. "Ladae - "Deep Down"". music video credits. mvdbase.com. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
17. "ANTOINE FUQUA". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
18. "Antoine Fuqua". Metacritic. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
19. "Cinemascore". Cinemascore.com. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
20. "Antoine Fuqua Movie Box Office". boxofficemojo.com. Amazon.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016.

External links

• Antoine Fuqua at the Internet Movie Database
• Hollywood Reporter story on upcoming The Notorious B.I.G. film (from 2005)
• On Directing with Antoine Fuqua nthWORD Magazine Interview by Gina Ponce, April 2010