Antoine Fuqua, director of The Equalizer film series, is being sued by a former collaborator. The consultant claims Fuqua refuses to pay or credit him for his alleged work on the the latest film.
Lawsuit claims that Fuqua didn’t pay or credit consultant
In a complaint filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court (via THR), Paul Lozada says that he provided production of The Equalizer 3 with a “treasure trove of information,” including knowledge on European organized crime, weapons, and fight choreography. Lozada has been listed as a consultant or advisor on a number of past Fuqua films, including Training Day, The Equalizer, and more.
According to the complaint, Lozada claims that Fuqua told him he’d have a position on The Equalizer 3, but never offered him one. In May 2022, the man claimed Fuqua reached out about collaborating on a potential TV project before asking for his input on The Equalizer 3. Lozada claims that Fuqua said he wasn’t happy with the script, and that it “needed some real Italian Mafia inner workings,” and that he asked Lozada to “gather all the information [he] could about this Italian Mafia Crime Group (Camorra).”
After getting to work on researching things for the project, Lozada goes on to claim that the next month, he sent Fuqua multiple reports on Italian organized crime, and that the pair had multiple conversations in the process.
“Clearly, Fuqua, with shooting starting in weeks, was on a quest for authenticity and realism, particularly with respect to the all-important opening scene, and, Plaintiff is informed and believes, Fuqua did not appear to be ready with some critical details,” the complaint reads. “Especially during August 2022, Fuqua was calling upon a familiar, solid resource — Lozada — and Fuqua did so many times.”
Lozada’s complaint goes on to mention that he repeatedly asked Fuqua for payment following their talks, and that Fuqua kept reiterating that production manager Clayton Townsend would handle it. After a few months, Lozada would eventually fly to the film’s shooting location in Rome. Shortly after, Fuqua stopped communicating with him.
After reaching out one final time about payment, Fuqua denied that Lozada had any involvement in the movie, and emailed him saying that he was simply trying to help Lozada out. “Not one thing in Equalizer had anything to do with you,” reads an alleged email from Fuqua. “Not one thing. You came to Rome, and I wanted you involved somehow. To help you. Not me.”