August 31st 2023.
Director Antoine Fuqua is now facing a real-life drama as Paul Lozada, his former collaborator, is claiming that the filmmaker failed to make good on paying for his contributions to several of his major screenplays.
According to Variety, Lozada, who was once a San Francisco police officer, provided insight into law enforcement and criminal enterprises for Fuqua's films Training Day and the first Equalizer movie. The lawsuit, filed by Lozada in Los Angeles Superior Court, is for breach of oral contract, implied-in-fact contract, common counts, and promissory fraud.
Lozada alleges that Fuqua solicited his expertise on the Italian mafia, drug trade shipping methods, and the timeline of a murder scene. Lozada also claims that Fuqua told him an employee from Sony Pictures would be in touch with him regarding compensation, which never happened. After numerous attempts to contact Fuqua, Lozada sent menacing messages and finally got a response.
Fuqua allegedly said, “Not one thing in Equalizer had anything to do with you. Not one thing. You came to Rome, and I wanted you involved somehow. To help you,” and further added, “Not me...I have nothing but love and respect for you Paul. But I don’t Owe you anything.”
The third Equalizer movie, starring Academy Award winner Denzel Washington, is set to release on September 1. Washington and Fuqua have also worked together on Training Day (which earned Washington an Oscar for Best Actor in 2003).
It remains to be seen if Lozada's allegations will have any effect on the release of the movie.
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