With MGM almost exclusively relying on their back catalog these days, they have shown that they are not afraid to remake older films that are considered classics. A couple of years back it was announced that they were trying to set up a new version of The Magnificent Seven, the 1960 Western starring Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter and Horst Buchholz. Clearly with an original cast like that, a new version of the movie would require a pretty big line-up of A-list stars. Tom Cruise was initially said to be attached to the project and later there were rumours that Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Costner were also involved. It now appears that those reports were inaccurate, but they are closing in on another A-list star to anchor the cast: Denzel Washington.

According to Deadline, Denzel Washington is in early discussions to star in The Magnificent Seven remake for MGM. This would make sense considering that the movie is being directed by Antoine Fuqua, who previously worked with Denzel on both Training Day and Sony’s upcoming TV adaptation The Equalizer. According to the article, no other actors are currently attached to the project.

While some might scoff at the idea of remaking The Magnificent Seven, it’s worth noting that the movie was itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. However, the thing that might get people even more excited about this project is the fact that the original draft of the script was written by Nic Pizzolatto, who has since become a pretty big name thanks to his HBO series True Detective. John Lee Hancock (The Alamo, The Blind Side) also did a rewrite on the film, which takes place post-Civil War, right at the end of the Wild West. What do you think, would you like to see a Denzel Washington / Antoine Fuqua western?