Man on Fire (2004)
- Before Denzel Washington was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
- During the filming of Man on Fire, Denzel Washington improvised one of the most famous lines in the movie.
- The original script for Man on Fire was written over a decade before production finally began in 2004.
Man on Fire is a 2004 American action thriller directed by Tony Scott. Denzel Washington stars as John Creasy, a burned-out former CIA operative and alcoholic who takes a job as a bodyguard for Pita Ramos, a nine-year-old girl played by Dakota Fanning, in Mexico City where kidnapping is epidemic. Initially cold and withdrawn, Creasy gradually warms to Pita's persistent, cheerful attempts to befriend him, and their developing bond โ she teaches him to smile again, he coaches her competitive swimming โ becomes the film's emotional core.
When Pita is kidnapped, Creasy unleashes the full extent of his lethal capabilities in a methodical, relentless campaign of vengeance through Mexico City's criminal underworld. Denzel Washington's transformation from dead-eyed, suicidal protector to unstoppable force of retribution was one of his most physically intense performances. Tony Scott's hyperkinetic direction โ oversaturated color, jump cuts, subtitles that exploded across the screen โ was divisive but perfectly matched Creasy's fractured psychological state.
Man on Fire earned $130 million worldwide on a $70 million budget.
