Dakota Fanning Talks Equalizer 3 Reunion With Denzel Washington

The Equalizer 3 star Dakota Fanning talks about her reunion with Denzel Washington 19 years after pairing in Man on Fire.

The impressive talent of Dakota Fanning as a child in 2004's Man on Fire is what prompted Denzel Washington to ask her to co-star in The Equalizer 3.

Fanning recently spoke to Entertainment Tonight about her close connection with Washington over the years ever since they worked together in Tony Scott's action thriller. Despite the two decades since they worked together, Fanning and Washington remained close thanks to the Oscar winner's daughter who attended NYU with Fanning. "I've obviously, you know, known Denzel for a big part of my life, and one of his daughters is one of my closest friends, so I'm always in the loop," Fanning said.

She continued, "He has always been so good to me and kind to me, and I feel such a connection to him because he's known me for so long. It's most people's dream to get to work with him once, so to get to work with him twice at different stages in my life is a real treat."

At ten years old in Man on Fire, Fanning played the daughter of a Mexico City automaker tycoon who assigns Washington's ex-CIA operative to serve as her bodyguard. The pair become close friends until Fanning's character gets abducted and Washington goes on a violent mission to find her. Now in The Equalizer 3, an adult Fanning takes on the role of a CIA agent investigating Robert McCall (Washington) for a series of killings in Sicily.

Discussing his reunion with Fanning as an adult actor, Washington found it too surreal to be back on-screen with the former child star. "It was weird, you know, 'cause I'm like, 'Oh she's a grown woman,'" Washington said to ET. "She was like a grown woman then, but now she's a grown woman. And, you know, obviously a great talent.... It wasn't really strange, 'cause she was bringing it."

The Equalizer 3 Concludes the Story

Based on the popular '80s CBS series starring Edward Woodward (Hot Fuzz), The Equalizer 3 is the final chapter of Washington's only film franchise that follows 2014's The Equalizer and 2018's The Equalizer 2. Franchise veteran director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter Richard Wenk return to tell the tale of McCall seeking peace from his dark past in Italy. When the Sicilian mafia threatens the new friends that he cares about, McCall resorts to the skills he knows best one more time.