Denzel Washington Says He Doesn’t Have Acting Friends and This is Apparently an Issue

When you see how buddy-buddy actors like Ben Affleck and George Clooney are (and we can’t forget an obligatory Affleck and Matt Damon friendship reference), it’s easy to get the impression that everyone in Hollywood hangs out with each other.  You know, like they all have a big pool party at Dustin Hoffman‘s, cooking $500 hamburgers on the barbeque and such, laughing it up at us little people.

But do you know who’s not on the guest list?  Denzel Washington.  Because he reportedly doesn’t have, or want, any acting friends.

In an interview with The Guardian, Washington pointed out, “Actually, even within the industry, I don’t have any actor friends. My friends are old friends.”  When asked to elaborate, he confessed, “Because I don’t make friends! Maybe I’m not a butt-kisser, maybe I’m not a schmoozer. I’m not about to go to a party to try to get a job. And then when you have children, the other friends become other parents. We’d coach baseball or basketball. My wife and I were raised right. I don’t want movie-star friends. And being African American, there were no big movie stars to hang out with anyway, not when I was starting out, they were just the third guy from the back! For whatever reason, I never befriended any white actors.” Read more

Denzel Washington Made His Daughter, An Aspiring Actress, Audition for Him: “Nobody’s going to be tougher than me”

Don’t think Denzel Washington’s daughter is going to get any free passes in Hollywood—the actor made her audition for him so he could tell if she had real talent!

As reported by Contactmusic.com, Washington said, “In her senior year at high school she was working on her audition and LaTanya Richardson, who is Sam Jackson’s wife and a brilliant actress in her own right, was working with her, and I said, ‘All right, Olivia, I want to see your two pieces.’  She went all dramatic and said, ‘Oh dad!’  And I said, ‘Come on now.  Nobody’s going to be tougher than me.  I’m going to tell you the truth because I’d rather you’d be a little hurt if you don’t have what it takes than have a lifetime of pain.’

“She did the two pieces and right away I said do them again.  She did them again and I said, ‘Ok.  Here’s the bad news.  This is one of the toughest professions you’re ever going to try to do.  But you are very good and you have what it takes.’” Read more

THR’s Actors Roundtable featuring Denzel Washington, Matt Damon, Jamie Foxx, Richard Gere, John Hawkes and Alan Arkin

One of my very favorite things that The Hollywood Reporter does are these actor roundtables. They get a group of actors, ask them questions and just let them go to town. Some of the answers are smart, some serious and some are just downright funny but all are incredibly entertaining. 

In this hour long, uncensored video, THR got Alan Arkin, Jamie Foxx, Richard Gere, Denzel Washington, John Hawkes and Matt Damon where they talk about their careers, advice to upcoming actors and a ton more. 

This is well worth your time!  Read more

3 Clips from Robert Zemeckis’ ‘Flight’ starring Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle and John Goodman

Robert Zemeckis‘ Flight open this weekend and I’m looking forward to it. I love Zemeckis and glad that he’s back in the live action world. Not that his animated films were bad, they just weren’t for me. 

Flight stars Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, John Goodman and Melissa Leo. It has Washington as Whip Whitaker (how great is that name?), a seasoned airline pilot who miraculously crash lands his plane after a mid-air catastrophe, saving nearly every soul on board. After the crash, Whip is hailed as a hero, but as more is learned, more questions than answers arise as to who or what was really at fault and what really happened on that plane?

Check out the clips below. Read more

Nate Parker Shares the Career Advice Denzel Washington Gave Him

Not many actors get their career advice from Denzel Washington.

Nate Parker, star of the newly released film Arbitrage, starred alongside Washington in The Great Debaters in 2007 and he told Parker that an actors career is determined by the first five roles they take.

“It was a daunting statement, because for your first five jobs you’re just like, ‘I wanna do work, what can I do, hey put me in’,” Parker told The National.  “But it’s so much more than that.  I think if you can have discretion, especially in the beginning, then you’ve created a persona that people will accept.  When they look at you they’ll think: ‘Oh, that’s the guy who did these three movies that I like for these three reasons.’ But it’s a rough road.”

The actor has already appeared in Red Tails and Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer, but says he’s done “maybe 11 or 12 films so far, which is a low average.  But I’m extremely careful to a fault about which roles I choose.” Read more

Trailer: Robert Zemeckis’ ‘Flight’ starring Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle & John Goodman

Starring: Denzel Washington, Bruce Greenwood, Brian Geraghty, Don Cheadle, John Goodman

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Synopsis: Whip Whitaker, a seasoned airline pilot, miraculously crash lands his plane after a mid-air catastrophe, saving nearly every soul on board. After the crash, Whip is hailed as a hero, but as more is learned, more questions than answers arise as to who or what was really at fault and what really happened on that plane?

In Theaters: November 2, 2012 Read more

Denzel Washington on His Action-Oriented Roles and How the Industry Has Changed Around Him

It’s probably accurate to say that most actors with decades-long careers feel comfortable doing a certain genres and are hesitant to branch out into more physical roles. 

Not Denzel Washington,  whose last three films have been the action/thrillers Book of Eli, Unstoppable, and Safe House. 

In an interview with Metro, Washington talks about how he has seen changes in both his roles and the film industry as a whole over his acting career, and what ambitions he has left.

Like Liam Neeson, Washington is one of the few actors who are known for dramatic roles but have begun to do more action roles in his late fifties.  However, Washington claims that the only difficulty he had with his action scenes is… jumping?  Read more

Documentary Trailer: Follow Director Kenny Leon as he Prepares Kids for a Monologue Competition in ‘The Start of Dreams’

The Start of Dreams is the story of award-winning director Kenny Leon bringing aspiring teenage actors to a Broadway stage in an intense monologue competition. In a new age where Arts Education is considered expendable in such a declining economy, Leon is determined to use his celebrity and influence to expose kids across the country to the wonderful world of theater. ‘The Start of Dreams’ is packed with Hollywood’s elite weighing in on this important art form and what it means to humanity.

Director: The Horne Brothers

Cast: Kenny Leon, Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Anthony Mackie, Phylicia Rashad, Jasmine Guy, Doris Kearns Goodwin

In Theaters Now Read more

Denzel Washington Talks About Preparing For His ‘Safe House’ Role

Denzel Washington might have built his well-deserved reputation on dramatic roles in theater and film — he won his first Oscar for his role in Glory — but Washington has also played some scary, tough dudes — like his character in Training Day, for which Washington won his second Oscar. Washington appears in a similar role opposite Ryan Reynolds in Safe House, as rogue CIA agent Tobin Frost.

Washington admits that the role is a bit of a throwback to intimidating characters he has played in the past, pointing out, “Safe House was an opportunity to revisit ways of working that I used to do.” 

Though Washington wanted to immerse himself in the role, he purposely avoided doing research on CIA agents.  He explains, “I didn’t want to do a lot of CIA research because Tobin Frost wasn’t CIA anymore. He hated everything about the CIA, and I wanted to discover his dark side.”  Read more

Biography: Denzel Washington

Two-time Academy Award®-winning actor Denzel Washington is a an constantly on the move. Never comfortable repeating himself or his successes, Washington is always in search of new challenges and his numerous and varied film and stage portrayals bear this out.

From Trip, an embittered runaway slave in Glory, to South African freedom fighter Steve Biko in Cry Freedom; from Shakespeare’s tragic historical figure Richard III to the rogue detective, Alonzo Harris, in Training Day, Washington has amazed and entertained us with a rich array of characters distinctly his own.

In 2010, moviegoers were treated to two very different sides of Washington when he starred in Tony Scott’s fast- paced thriller Unstoppable, and in the Hughes brothers’ dystopian vision, The Book of Eli, which Washington also produced. The Book of Eli grossed more than $38 million in its opening weekend.

In 2009, Washington was directed by Tony Scott in the respected remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, also starring John Travolta.

In late December 2007, Washington directed and co-starred with Academy Award®-winning actor Forest Whitaker in The Great Debaters, a drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College in Texas who in 1935, inspired students from the school’s debate team to challenge Harvard in the national championship. Read more

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