Does Denzel score with The Equalizer?

Fans of the 1980s TV series The Equalizer needn’t waste time looking for similarities with the cinema release of the same name.

“Basically it’s just the name,” states leading man Denzel Washington. “I guess it’s the same premise: the guy from somewhere obscure, a guy we don’t know much about, who equalizes the situation. I guess in that regard it’s similar, but that’s about it.

“Actually I never watched the television series. I may have seen a bit of it when I was younger, but I don’t remember the series, and didn’t look back at it. We weren’t really looking to emulate the series.”

It’s been 25 years since Edward Woodward called it a day as Robert McCall, a taciturn retired intelligence officer who prowled New York, visiting justice upon those who most deserved it.

A quarter of a century later the McCall we meet, as played by Denzel, is working in a Boston department store, giving no hint as to his past life as a Secret Service black ops agent until a Russian gang beat up someone he cares about.

The film is directed by Antoine Fuqua, who previously worked with Denzel on Training Day, the 2001 crime thriller that brought Denzel his career high point to date a Best Actor Oscar.

The feat is unlikely to be repeated with The Equalizer, although the ever reliable Denzel gives his character an added dimension by adding a couple of psychological conditions to deal with insomnia and obsessive compulsive disorder.

“I added the OCD element to enrich the character a bit, not just to make it some shoot-em-up, all guns and killing,” the 59-year-old explains. “It’s an interesting condition, and it affects people in different ways. I did more than is actually in the film.

“It’s an interesting peculiarity, and there are different people who have different things. Some people have to wash their hands, some people have to do certain things a certain number of times before they can function just obsessive behaviour.

“Along with the insomnia, it gave me a real handle on him, so that he’s not just some perfect guy. He’s got issues that he’s trying to overcome.”

Always amiable and with a keen sense of humour, devout Christian Denzel has had a lot to be thankful for since meeting wife Pauletta on the set of his first screen work, the television film Wilma, 37 years ago.

The couple have four children, two sons and two daughters, all of whom have followed their father in some fashion into the industry.

“Well, one (eldest son, John, 30) is starring in an HBO series they shot the pilot, and he goes back to work in November. It’s called Ballers. His brother (23-year-old Malcolm) is going to study at the American Film Institute, he’s a director. Then his eldest sister (Katia, 27) is on a producing track, she’ll be an associate producer on her next project. And our other daughter (Malcolm’s twin sister, Olivia) is an actress and she just graduated from university, and she’s trying to get a job.”

Denzel insists the couple didn’t push their kids into the business, but that they are all movie buffs. “They all love film and theatre. They know movies, they know who shot it, who directed it they know it better than me,” he laughs. “My wife is a real movie buff. She watches everything. When we get the Academy screeners, she sees them all.

“I think they really got that from their mother more than me. They love movies so it makes perfect sense that they got into the business.

“They’ve gone in different ways, but they’re all finding their way in there.”

The Equalizer is at cinemas now.