A remake of a classic film is never an easy task — doubly so when the original is actually a genre remake of a different classic. But put that property in the hands of director Antoine Fuqua and reteam him with his Training Day stars Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington, and suddenly no challenge seems insurmountable. From the looks of the first official images from Sony’s forthcoming The Magnificent Seven, it certainly seems things are trending in the right direction.
Due out September 23rd, the film is a remake of the 1960 movie of the same name starring Yul Brynner, Steven McQueen, and Charles Bronson, itself a remake of the 1954 Japanese film Seven Samurai. The story follows a group of rag-tag group of gunslingers who join forces to protect a Mexican village from raiding bandits.
Along with Washington (who plays mutton-chopped gang leader Sam Chisolm) and Hawke (Goodnight Robicheaux, a soldier suffering from PTSD), Fuqua assembled an cast as equally impressive as the original, if not far more diverse. Chris Pratt plays “charming gambler Josh Farraday,” and Vincent D’Onofrio plays Jack Horne. Riding with them as the rest of the Seven are Korean star Byung-hun Lee (Bill Rocks), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (Vasquez), and Martin Sensmeier (Red Harvest), while Peter Sarsgaard plays bad guy Bartholomew Bogue.
That’s the entire seven up above, and you can check out more stills from the movie below (via USA Today).
