Denzel Washington – a memorable encounter

                                   June 2004    By Philip Berk

There’s a hard edge to Denzel Washington. Even on screen he projects a detachment that makes you wonder, is he a very angry man? 

I remember the first time I met him, twenty years ago, he had a small but telling role in A Soldier’s Story, and he wanted a Golden Globe nomination. At that press conference he was unassuming and friendly.  

Our second encounter was at a luncheon for Glory, for which he arrived late, unshaven, accompanied by his wife and family, and left early.

He did no publicity for Cry Freedom,  Malcolm X. or Pelican Brief,  but he’s promoted all his subsequent films, which have brought him both acclaim and superstar status.

At his press conference for Man on Fire he’s every inch the star.

But there’s still that hard edge.

And when I ask him if he’s become cynical, he’s not happy with my question.

By his own admission, I remind him, he never watches movies, his or others, he doesn’t cast his ballot as an Academy member, he doesn’t trust politicians.

Is it America that makes him so bitter? 

“I’m bitter about the whole world,” he answers. “I’m pissed at the whole world.”

Is it the political system that disillusions him?

“I am not disillusioned, I get it. I’ve got it for a long time. I’m an ex-slave. Trust me.”

Young African Americans look to him as a role model, much the way he idolized Sydney Poitier, the Denzel Washington of his time.

”No,” he interrupts me, “he was the Sidney Poitier of his time. I am Denzel Washington. Don’t get it twisted. I am not him. I am me.”

So it comes as no surprise that when asked if there was anything he still desires, he invokes his spirituality.

“I’m working my way through the Bible,” he tells me.”I’m studying the Bible, reading it every day. Today I was reading about Solomon, who first knocked off a couple of his father’s foes, and then he prayed to God for wisdom, proper judgment. And while I was reading that chapter, third chapter, first Kings, I said, ‘That’s something I want to pray for. That’s something I want to work on. So I have a desire for wisdom. That is my goal, to help my fellow man. Not to buy another car or to get another funny looking jacket.”

Which is what he’s been doing the past ten years, supporting worthy causes such as Nelson Mandela and the new South Africa. (He gave them $1 million when the Apartheid system collapsed.)

He also lives a moral life, having  been married to the same woman for over twenty years.

How does he do it? I ask him.

“The reason we’re still married is we’re still friends. She’s always had the freedom to do whatever she wanted to do. You can’t suppress one’s talent. She was a child prodigy; when she was nine she played for (Broadway composers) Jule Styne, Jerry Herman, everybody. She was even a Van Clyburn competitor.

“But she got a lot of that out of her system when she made the decision to be a mother. And she’s still a full time mother. She cooks breakfast every morning. She takes the kids to school, she does all those things. But in the last seven, eight years she’s started doing little shows here and there. She does whatever she wants. She even did a song on the soundtrack of Philadelphia which went platinum.”

What does she bring to the marriage?

“Well, she’s half of it. She brings half the influence. She’s everything in every respect. She really is the root and the stability. I’m the guy who goes out  to work, sometimes on location. But I try to fly home every weekend. I make a point to get home and keep the family unit together.”

What values does he try to instill in his kids?

“I teach them to believe in God. I teach them to treat people fairly, as they would want to be treated. I teach them not to be the first one to strike out, only when necessary to protect themselves, verbally if they can. And if they can walk away from a situation that’s even better. But I’ve learned that the best thing you can do is to expose them to different things, let them learn for themselves, stimulate them, give them different experiences, and find out what they have to say for themselves.”

When he’s home, is he the disciplinarian?

“You can’t walk in a house and start taking over when you haven’t been there. My wife’s there day in and day out. They rely on her. I move in and out. So yeah, dad has his two cents to say too, but I don’t know if that’s how it works in a normal household where both people are always at home. We both help out, but it’s tricky. Even though both my parents were home, I still relied on my mother more. Somehow she was more consistent. I mean my wife is the consistent one. My kids aren’t looking for me to make breakfast for them. She’s the one up every  morning. She takes them to school, she makes their lunch. For me to suddenly jump in and say, ‘Hey, you’re not going to…’ makes no sense, but there are times she says, ‘Here, you take them.’

Do they ever ask him questions he can’t answer?

“They’re too smart for that. They know what to ask me and what not to ask. My oldest boy got his report card, and he’s been avoiding me. It’s so funny to watch. There are certain things a husband can address, like women calling him all the time. I talk to him about that and the mistakes I’ve made. When my daughter was twelve and things were changing. I didn’t know what to say. ‘Honey, honey, help. Get in.’ So it helps to have both. But whatever it is I’ve been teaching them or trying to share with them, I’m happy with the results. I see my older boy, who I coached, now coaching his younger brother.”

Do his daughters get less attention?

“A good question. My oldest daughter is a very bright child. Growing up, she tried to play all sports even football. Eventually she broke her foot, and after that she said to me, ‘Dad, I’m not as good as the boys.’ It took my wife to point out that she had been competing for my attention.”

So he handles the boys, his wife the girls?

“No, I’m in there. A little confused  though. Sometimes when I throw things in, she looks at me like I’m crazy, ‘Dad, get out of here.’ And I’m like ‘Okay, okay, I’ll ask mom.”

Ruefully he adds, “But when you have four, there’s lots of running to do.”

And then he adds, “My wife has done a wonderful job in making sure all our kids have a good spiritual base. They’re humble, they’re courteous. They say yes sir, no sir. All that, can be attributed to the work she’s done.”

And how does he scare them off drugs and other teenage temptations?

“You try to lead by example.”

But then jokingly he adds, “Pray. You try to keep channels of conversation open. You teach them right from wrong so that when they’re out in the world and do experiment, as I did,  hopefully they’ll make the right decisions.” 

Do they ever discuss his film choices?

“My kids could care less about what I do. They’re not interested. Your kids don’t care about your work. Dad works. He’s got a job. He makes movies.”

Is his wife also studying the Bible?

“She’s ahead of me. I’m following her.”

Does it bother him that right wing groups use the Bible for negative agendas?

“When I say say I study the Bible, I also study the Koran, Eastern religions. I study a lot of religions, not just the Bible.”

As a role model for young African Americans, why isn’t he willing to use his celebrity to encourage them to vote?

“I do. I say, ‘Hey, register and vote. Make a difference.’ I am not going to say, you should vote this person because of this. I say, Open your eyes and see what’s going on.”

So for him there’s no difference between Bush and Kerry?

“I don’t trust either one of them. They’re politicians. I see through the B.S. I don’t expect young people to know as much as I know about manipulation. I happen to have strong opinions,  but I also recognize that those who stand on the soap box and scream usually get their heads chopped off. That’s what I saw growing up. The people I believed in.” (Obviously he’s referring to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.) 

In Man on Fire he plays a retired Green Beret officer who’s hired to protect a young girl. When she’s kidnaped, he takes the law into his own hands. 

Is that something he would do?

“I wouldn’t want to even think about it.”

Tony Scott, the director calls him the consummate method actor. Is he?

“I don’t use titles. I don’t see myself as anything. That’s for someone else to say. I just do my job the way I know how to do it.” 

His performance in Man of Fire is a star turn in the best sense of the word. Is he aware he’s created that niche for himself?

“I wouldn’t know what that is or how to do that. I only know how to interpret a role, immerse myself in the environs.”

But then returning to the Bible, he continues, “There is a chapter in the book of Romans that I showed Tony. ‘He (Jesus) really relates to this character,’ I told Tony, and we ended up putting some of that in the film, and in fact in earlier versions we had verses throughout the film. You’d hear characters say it in voice-overs, but I guess it got to be too much. I saw him as a man on a journey, someone who’s lost but finds himself through this young innocent girl.  She becomes his angel, and then she’s taken away from him. You might think of it as a star turn, but for me it was a character performance.” 

Audience expect an interracial love story, between Radha Mitchell and him, but it doesn’t materialize?

Was that his doing?

“In terms of an interracial love story, the fact that there’s a Black person and a white person in the movie, that’s no big deal to me. I haven’t looked to do that nor have I looked away from that, unless that’s what the movie is about, like in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”  

The year he lost his  Oscar to Kevin Spacey, he blamed it on racism. 

Is that something he regrets having done?

“No,  because I meant it. I still do, and I’m not changing my tune now.”

And then with his beguiling smile, he adds, “So there!”

His first film as a director, 2002’s Antwone Fisher, didn’t get the recognition it deserved.

Will he direct again?

“I’m not crazy about acting and directing at the same time,” which is what he had to do to  get it made. “I’m not the kind of actor who can read lines and go back and look at it. But given the opportunity to just direct, I will be directing the rest of my life.”

So does he have an upcoming project?

“I have three projects I am developing. One is about a small college debating team in Texas that went on to beat everybody in the United States in the 1930’s. That’s probably the one I’m going to direct next year, most likely in the fall.”

His next movie The Manchurian Candidate has parallels with what’s happening in America today.

Is that why chose the role?

“I chose the role because it was a good script, and it was a good story.”

So his politics has nothing to do with it?

“The political system isn’t going to turn one way or the other based on a film.”

He said the same thing  about  his last movie John Q, even though the end credits told us, “Over 50 million Americans have no health insurance.”

“To be honest with you,” he responded, “ that crawl was not in the script. That’s something that was added. I didn’t know it was going to be there until I saw the film. The reason I did the film was not so much the issue but the story.”

Doesn’t that statistic make him angry?

“A lot of things happen in this country. There’s a long list. Something needs to be done, but angry I’m not.”

Why not? 

“Because I don’t believe the solution is that simple. We filmed the movie in Canada, and I met quite a few people who still come to the States for surgeries. There’re  troubles with both systems. With national health you have to wait in line, get on lists. Sometimes the equipment is not cutting edge. I don’t think it’s an either/or situation. There’s troubles for both systems. Privatization is still good. The solution falls somewhere in the middle.”

The scene in that movie when he says goodbye to his son, was that difficult to play?

“Not at all. It’s only difficult when you don’t have good material. It was a well written scene.”

Yet his tears seemed so genuine, surely he must have contributed to it?

“I may have thrown something in, but the basic shape of it was there. I might have added a little. As a parent; it hits close to home. When you’re playing a scene like that, all you have to do is think about one of your children, and that’s all it takes”

Does he still believe racism is rampant in Hollywood?

“There’s racism everywhere. People are racist. People are biased. That’s a part of life. I’m talking about myself as well. This is a business, and there’s a lot of fear.” 

So how does he deal with it?

“You deal with it. I say to black people in this industry, if you were running everything, would you necessarily be looking out for white people. And since you’re not running everything, are you looking out for your own people? And if not, then don’t say anything to me about who’s not looking out for whom.”

What  causes does he support?

“You have to pick your spots. I’m involved in a lot of different organizations. I do a lot of work for the Boys’ and Girls’ Club. I happen to believe that you have to grab a person’s mind when they’re very young. Like I said, prejudice is taught, discrimination is taught, by somebody older. So that’s why I’m involved in teaching young people.”

Did his fans complain about the character he played in Training Day?

“Yeah, a little bit, but I don’t do what I feel my public wants me to do, because then I’d be headed in the wrong direction. Whatever success I’ve achieved wasn’t because I did what I thought the public wanted or didn’t want me to do. If I have any responsibility, it’s to myself.”

Does he read his reviews?

“I usually put them in the trash. I’d rather listen to what the paying-public has to say as opposed to what reviewers say.”

Does he ever reflect on the lean years when he was unemployed?

“You start thinking about it. You go back to the time when you worked as a garbage man. I worked for the post Office. I worked in factories, I had night shifts at a record pressing plant. I remember before my wife and I were married, we had one dollar between us. I let her take the train while I sneaked on, both figuring how we were going to eat when we got downtown. I don’t forget.”

And what is the best thing about being Denzel Washington?

“Being alive is good. I’ve been blessed. And the best thing is being able to help my family out, get my mother a house, help my sister and my brother.”

For the record,  he’s never seen Frank Sinatra’s Manchurian Candidate and has no interest in watching it. As a kid he never went to the movies. There were no Black actors, he says.

Not even Sydney Poitier? I remind him. 

“Yeah, pick another guy!”

And then he adds, “Just one guy! Ain’t that a crying shame!”