When two veteran actors meet on a film set, there can be a synergy between their talents. That was the situation with the action thriller The Equalizer, despite a 43-year age difference between the two leads. Based on the ‘80s TV drama, Denzel Washington plays a mild-mannered man who draws on his past military training when he sees injustice around him, including a teenager forced into prostitution, played by Chloë Grace Moretz. Washington became a household name in films such as Glory and Malcom X before Moretz was even born, but the 17-year-old has been acting more than half her life and brought an intense approach to her role. “Sometimes it’s good for a role to affect you personally,” she said at a press conference during the Toronto International Film Festival. “Sometimes it’s OK to have your own emotions become entwined with your character’s.”  Washington agreed, saying “you take something of everything you do home with you.”  The Oscar winner related he likes to take things slow on the first day of filming, comparing himself to a jazz musician ready to take a solo first but feeling out the rhythm. He also admitted he has never done a film where he is not nervous for the first take or two. His young costar had some advice for him. “We have to step back and remember it is just a job,” Moretz said.

The Equalizer opens in Japan October 25. www.equalizer.jp