Director Antoine Fuqua sometimes forgot to yell “cut” while making Training Day because he was so engrossed in watching Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke perform.

The 2001 crime thriller, Fuqua’s third feature, starred Washington and Hawke as two narcotics officers and followed them over 24 hours as they policed gang-ridden neighbourhoods in Los Angeles.

During an interview with Collider, Fuqua admitted that he had such a good time watching his actors play out a scene that he sometimes forgot to say “cut”.

“I sat literally watching these two master actors go at it, and it was the most fun I ever had. I was laughing my a*s off and trying not to interfere with the dialogue,” he recalled. “I would forget to yell cut half the time and s**t, and Denzel would look back at me and go, ‘You gonna yell cut?’ And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, cut.’ Because it was like, that’s the reason you do it. That’s the reason you do it, to watch these amazing individuals become these people.”

Over the years, Fuqua has directed movies such as Olympus Has Fallen, King Arthur, The Magnificent Seven remake, and The Equalizer franchise.

When asked to pick which of his films he’d like people to watch first, he selected Training Day.

“Training Day was really the film that was the most personal at that time in my life. I was looking for a movie like that,” he explained. “But when Training Day came, it was another way in, to tell the stories of the streets that I know.”

Washington won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Training Day.

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