The only thing bigger than the Colosseum in Gladiator II is Denzel Washington’s performance as a gladiator trainer. Neil Smith talks bread and circuses with the actor, producer and director.
Turning 70 holds no fear for multi-hyphenate Denzel Washington, whose landmark birthday on December 28 coincides happily with a spate of significant accomplishments on both sides of the camera.
As a producer, his ambitious aspiration to transfer all 10 plays in August Wilson’s Century Cycle to the screen — initiated in 2016 with his self-directed adaptation of Fences and continued in 2020 with George C Wolfe’s take on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom — has borne fruit again with The Piano Lesson, a film version of Wilson’s 1987 drama that sees Washington’s son Malcolm make his directing debut.
And as an actor, Washington has received some of the most glowing reviews of his career for his performance in Gladiator II, Paramount Pictures’ sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 original. The film — which rekindles an actor-director partnership first explored in 2007’s American Gangster, and also follows the five features Washington made with Scott’s director brother Tony Scott — had reached $370m worldwide at press time.
As slave owner Macrinus, a wealthy self-made businessman who has ascended to a position of immense power and influence in Ancient Rome, Washington lends a mischievous, devilish charm to Scott’s historical epic. “I don’t remember if Ridley encouraged it or if it was inherent,” ponders the actor — talking to Screen International while in London for Gladiator II and The Piano Lesson promotional efforts. “But Macrinus is willing to do anything to anybody to get what he wants, and there is a freedom in that that lends itself to theatre. Ridley knows how to use the best of what an actor brings, and he may have picked up on certain things I was doing. When you have the props, the sets and beautiful costumes” — the work of Janty Yates, a regular Scott collaborator who earned an Oscar for Gladiator — “you don’t have to act, I just have to be.”
Washington also acknowledges the “respect and energy” afforded him by the film’s younger cast members. “Those kids can act,” he says of Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, who play enslaved gladiator Lucius, Roman emperor Geta and the latter’s twin brother Caracalla respectively. “They are real theatre actors and can hit the ball back over the net. It’s funny now doing interviews and hearing how nervous they were around me, because I didn’t notice it. I was just playing the part.”
As if on cue, another younger co-star — Jake Gyllenhaal, with whom Washington will shortly appear in a Broadway production of Othello — video calls from a gym in New York to touch base with a man he dubs graciously “The General”.
“Can’t plan it any better than that, can you?” Denzel says of the call’s serendipity.
Key notes
Slavery is also an element in the Netflix-backed The Piano Lesson, which revolves around a cherished musical heirloom that bears engravings of its former owner’s human chattel. Washington says he was happy to hand the project over to his second son Malcolm, an American Film Institute graduate with a cinema studies degree from the University of Pennsylvania. “I may have more experience, but he knows more about filmmaking,” he says proudly. “I tried to stay off the set as there was nothing for me to do.”
Fishing a mobile phone out of his pocket, the actor shows Screen a mock trailer his son put together as a taster of what he hoped to achieve. “He got some documentary footage and then he went out in the backyard and shot a couple of shots,” he continues. “I couldn’t make something like that.” The plan, says Washington, is to continue adapting Wilson’s plays for Netflix alongside fellow producer Todd Black, with 1984’s Joe Turner’s Come And Gone likely to be next. “Each one has a life of its own and Netflix has been totally supportive,” he says. “We’ve had great success with the ones we’ve done, and I’m sure we’ll get some with The Piano Lesson.”
Washington and success have not been strangers over a prolific film career that was garlanded early on with an Academy Award for his supporting role in 1989’s Glory. Becoming an Oscar recipient, though, turned out to be something of a double-edged sword. “Winning an Academy Award led to some bad movies, because it became about, ‘Now you make this kind of money,’” he admits. “My agent wanted me to be a leading man or an action star or whatever it was, and I had bills.”
Since his second Oscar win for 2001’s Training Day, however, the Mount Vernon native has found a balance between mainstream commercial offerings — such as the three Equalizer films with director Antoine Fuqua — and the more rarefied likes of Joel Coen’s black-and-white The Tragedy Of Macbeth.
“I only want to work with the best, and there are only so many roles,” he says, revealing he has been “exchanging ideas” with Ryan Coogler and Steve McQueen about potential future projects. “I talk to them because I’m curious and want to learn from them as filmmakers. Ridley is my hero because he’s addicted to working; it’s not pressure for him but adrenaline. I want to feel that way as a filmmaker, and give 1,000% of myself to whatever it is I’m doing.”
Awards oversight
Washington’s Oscar track record — two wins out of 10 nominations — is an impressive one that is matched by a virtually like-for-like history at the Golden Globes. Like Glory co-star Morgan Freeman, however, Washington has yet to be nominated for a Bafta, an oversight that baffles him as much as it must embarrass the British film academy. “Yeah, what’s up with that?” he asks. “Did I do something or say something bad? But listen — it’s alright. I’m looking to do my best work now, and I have enough goals and wants to reach for.”
Othello awaits him in February for a 15-week run at New York’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre, reuniting Washington with Kenny Leon who directed him to a Tony win for Fences in 2010. On film, already wrapped is Highest 2 Lowest, Spike Lee’s remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime drama High And Low for Apple Original Films and A24. He will follow Othello with a Netflix film about Carthaginian warrior Hannibal.
“My goal is no shirt at some point in the movie,” says the father of four, who has recruited celebrity trainer Dodd Romero to help him make that hope a reality. “My 70th birthday gift to myself is to look in the mirror and like what I see.”
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