Denzel Washington, Antoine Fuqua Team Up for Netflix’s Historical Epic ‘Hannibal’
Denzel Washington and Director Antoine Fuqua on the set of Columbia Pictures THE EQUALIZER 3 in Italy. Photo by: Stefano Montesi
The SAG-AFTRA strike is over, and the floodgates of news are opening up. One of the first out is a major team-up at Netflix. Denzel Washington is reuniting with his Equalizer director Antoine Fuqua to play Carthaginian general Hannibal in an upcoming historical epic.
This is according to Deadline, who are also adding that Gladiator scribe John Logan will be typing it out. Fuqua, Washington, Erik Olsen, and Adam Goldworm are producers on the film, while Jeremy Lott and Frank Moll are exec producing. The movie has been a passion project for Washington for 20 years — back then, it fell apart at Fox because Washington did not want to spend a lot of time away from his kids.
Per Variety, the film’s logline paints it as “based on real-life warrior Hannibal, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest military commanders in history. The film covers the pivotal battles he led against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War.”
His most famous doing was, of course, invading Italy from the North atop a North African elephant. He led the Carthaginians on key victories against the Romans, before he was defeated by the Romans at the Battle of Zama.
The story of Hannibal has been the subject of Hollywood obsession for a long time, with Vin Diesel even attached to a Hannibal project at some point. Washington will be playing the titular role.
Next up for him is Gladiator 2, which he should resume shooting over the next few days, as Paramount intends to meet the Thanksgiving 2024 release date.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
