Opening this weekend is director Antoine Fuqua’s White House actioner Olympus Has Fallen.  The film stars Gerard Butler as a disgraced Secret Service agent called back to duty when terrorists take over the White House and capture the President (Aaron Eckhart).  The film also stars Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Ashley Judd, Melissa Leo, Robert Forster, Dylan McDermott, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, and Rick Yune.  If you’ve been waiting for Butler to return to action, you’re going to be very happy watching Olympus Has Fallen.  Not only is the film a hard R for graphic violence, it features Butler kicking ass in some great action set pieces.  Watch some clips here.

A few days ago I landed an exclusive interview with Fuqua here in Los Angeles.   During our wide-ranging conversation we talked about what it's been like promoting the film all over the country,  how Seven Samurai was the movie that inspired him to become a filmmaker, the interesting way he got into directing (an art class in college led to him abandoning electrical engineering and pursuing a career in film), making Olympus Has Fallen, deleted scenes, the length of his first cut, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Antoine Fuqua Time Index:

• It has been exhausting but fun to go to different screenings and junkets around the country.
• 1:00 - Cites Seven Samurai as the movie that inspired him to become a filmmaker.  He first saw it when he was 12 or 13.
• 2:00 - Fuqua tells the story of how an art class in college led to him abandoning electrical engineering and pursuing a career in film.
• 8:00 - He gets more respect from studios at this stage in his career than when he started out.
• 9:00 - The first cut was 2.5 hours with a little bit of everything.  He describes his approach to editing.
• 10:50 - He doesn't expect there to be many deleted scenes for Olympus Has Fallen.  Maybe five minutes.