CHRIS PRATT who plays Josh Faraday in The Magnificent Seven talks about his experience playing the role
Tell us about your roleIJ
Josh Faraday is a gambler, a drinker, has love for cigars and finer things in life (laughs). He’s a bit light-hearted in his approach, but he’s got an incredibly dangerous side. When Denzel Washington’s character Sam sees me in action for the first time, I become the first to join his group. He’s spent his entire life trying to convince himself that he’s a bad guy, so that he wouldn’t have to deal with the feelings of guilt associated with doing bad things. In the course of this journey, he makes a choice to face those demons and be a good guy, and do something that benefits someone other than himself.
What is the main missionIJ
Well, we’re able to see our monster, and that’s our hook for our movie. We see the brilliant Peter Sarsgaard and the grip he has on this town, and it’s dark. His actions inspire vengeance and justice in our main character, Emma, played by Haley Bennett. He’s a big money man and there’s just no justice where they live. He has the hired guns on his payroll and he does what he wants, and so when we meet Denzel who meets her, her mission becomes his. He sees something in her. There’s absolutely a reason that Chisolm is doing this, but we don’t find that out until later, and it has a lot to do with our monster. The whole time, you get the sense that Denzel is helping this woman but also that it’s not just altruism. He has his own agenda for vengeance.
Why do you think audiences the world over love this very American genreIJ
It’s a world where justice is unavailable and there are codes of honour — these are things that don’t really exist now. There is justice now, so if someone is doing really bad things, they’ll likely get arrested by the cops, and if a guy comes in and kills a bunch of people in your hometown, a SWAT team will come and dispose of the criminal. In the Wild West, there were no rules — there were just strong men and women who had to stake their own claims. It was dangerous and wild, but it was truly free. I think that now we are a very just society, but some people would argue that we’re not free but they experienced a type of freedom that we’ll never know. Maybe that’s why we’re so drawn to the genre.
Do you think the film still has the DNA of Seven Samurai in itIJ
Absolutely! This is a story that, at its core, is about justice and revenge and honor which is what director Akira Kurosawa’s movie is about. It’s seven distinctly different people fighting for different reasons — some simply because that’s what they do best. There’s a certain mood to it that’s really beautiful. Director Antoine Fuqua is a big fan of all movies, he’s a big film buff, and he loves the Westerns, and Kurosawa. The idea of seven people coming together to fight, to overcome their own personal demons, to sacrifice themselves for a greater cause, is pretty cool. Kurosawa was the first to do it as a movie, but I know there are plenty of books and stories through history. It’s a pretty classic and timeless tale.