All you DRIVE fans out there, get ready to shit your pants because Nicolas Winding Refn is now directing his first big budget studio picture and it is going to be a doozy.
Deadline reports that Refn has been selected to direct Denzel Washington in the big screen update to the 1980s crime series THE EQUALIZER. Washington has been linked to the project for a little while now and no one was really excited. But, with Refn on board, this movie gains instant credibility.
THE EQUALIZER starred Edward Woodward as a mysterious former covert operations officer who helps people in trouble. The film has that basic premise but takes off in its own way, tailored to Washington’s skills. He’ll play a solitary, monastic figure who hates injustice and devotes himself to helping people who are being victimized.
The show ran for four season and was known for having a gritty and dark take on the spy genre. The fact that Woodward was middle-aged and not a young actor gave it an even more unique style. Just watching the old intro to the series should show you it shared a visual style and music that Refn put to excellent effect in DRIVE. Part of me is hoping Refn keeps the big screen version set in 1985 and cranks up the synthesizers.
Either updated or kept retro, THE EQUALIZER is set to begin production in the Spring.