US Actor Denzel Washington leads 'Magnificent Seven'

Director Antoine Fuqua knew he’d have to pull out some stops to convince Denzel Washington to saddle up for The Magnificent Seven.
After all, Washington had never done a Western. And there are big shoes to fill: Yul Brynner led an immortal cast (including Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson) in the original 1960 tale of gunslingers banding together to save a Mexican village from marauding bandits.

At lunch, Fuqua painted the whole picture of Washington dramatically riding over the hill on a black horse. He even played a hip-hop version of an Ennio Morricone Western theme to set the heroic mood.
It worked.