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

Trailer: ‘Safe House’ starring Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Vera Farmiga

Safe House: Matt Weston is a rookie CIA operative frustrated with his lackluster post running a safe house in Cape Town, South Africa. All that changes when his first “guest” is Tobin Frost, a renegade intelligence officer who had been on the run for almost a decade. When mercenaries attack the house, Weston and Frost make a narrow escape and together must find out who they can trust.

Starring: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Vera Farmiga
Directed by: Daniel Espinosa

In Theaters: February 10, 2012
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Denzel Washington’s inspirational Commencement speech: “Do you have the guts to fail?” (video)

Denzel Washington is one of the most respected actors in Hollywood, but the actor confessed to stirrings of stage fright when faced with a daunting role at the University of Pennsylvania; standing before nearly 5,000 graduates as the University’s Commencement speaker.

The award winning actor described his experience at the Ivy League graduation ceremony as, “a little overwhelming and out of my comfort zone.”

Washington says he accepted the invitation to speak as a challenge and a lesson for himself. “I had to come exactly because I might make a fool of myself. I’ve found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Nothing.”

In his speech the actor said, “Failure is inevitable.” Instead of having something to fall back on, he recommended graduates should “fall forward” — learn from their mistakes and to on keep trying. He referenced Thomas Edison, who had countless failed experiments before experiencing the euphoria of success with the light bulb.

“Do you have the guts to fail?” Washington asked. “If you don’t fail, you’re not even trying.”

Washington shared one of his own early “failures”, confessing he was a pre-med student at Fordham University in New York, before he switched to pre-law, then to journalism and when he was close to flunking out, the actor switched to drama and finally received his degree.

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The Stars of ‘Unstoppable’ talk about the film, casting and acting on a speeding train

Denzel Washington, Chris Pine and Rosario Dawson, the stars of Unstoppable, talk about the film in the following videos. They chat about their characters, acting and what it’s like acting on a speeding train.

Best Line: Denzel says that, “I’m in the people watching business.”

In this video, Denzel describes how working amongst the people of the “Rust Belt” affected his performance.

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Denzel Washington and Chris Pine answer fan questions about their new film, ‘Unstoppable’

Denzel Washington and Chris Pine answer some fan questions about their new film, Unstoppable.

Some of the questions they were asked: Did they actually go out with real conductors to prepare, what’s the most memorable experience on any mode of transportation (Denzel laughs and say’s he can’t answer that question) and what is their weirdest fan-related experience (again, Denzel won’t answer that question…this time it’s in the negative vain).

Will Ferrell is #1!

For the 2nd straight year, Will Ferrell is the most overpaid actor in terms of box-office worth.

According to Forbes magazine, his movies bring in $3.35 for every dollar he’s paid.

Other actors on the list include Eddie Murphy (#2), Denzel Washington, Drew Barrymore, Matt Damon and Adam Sandler.

The best value? Shia LaBeouf. He’s paid $1 for every $81 his movies made. No doubt he’s helped by the Transformers franchise because I didn’t see Wall Street 2 break any box-office records.

Here’s the list:

1. Will Ferrell
2. Eddie Murphy ($1 for every $4.45)
3. Denzel Washington ($1 for every $5.10)
4. Seth Rogen ($1 for every $6.75)
5. Tom Cruise ($1 for every $7.20)
6. Drew Barrymore ($1 for every $7.45)
7. Matt Damon ($1 for every $8.30)
8. Vince Vaughn ($1 for every $8.35)
9. Adam Sandler ($1 for every $8.45)
10. Jim Carrey ($1 for every $8.60)

2010 Tony Nominations

 

BEST PLAY:

In the Next Room by Sarah Ruhl

Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts

Red by John Logan

Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies

BEST MUSICAL:

American Idiot

Fela!

Memphis

Million Dollar Quartet

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Broadway Review: Fences

Let me just get this out of the way – Denzel Washington was outstanding. The very minute he walks onstage, he fills the theater with his presence and you just sit back and enjoy the ride he’s about to take you on.

Fences opened last night at Broadway’s Cort Theater for a limited run through July 11^th and judging from the packed, enthusiastic audience I saw it with, this will be a hard show to get tickets to.

It stars Washington as Troy Maxson, a 53-year-old sanitation worker who once had aspirations of a career in baseball. Married to the devoted Rose (Viola Davis), their back and forth talk, mostly with sexual undertones make for a seemingly happy marriage. Mid way through the first act, his best friend, Bono (Stephen McKinely Henderson), begins to hint at some definite character flaws in Troy that come up in the second act; some shocking, some not.

The show was great and as I said before, Denzel (I’ll call him by his first name, sure) was incredible. The only problem I had – and I’m not sure you can even call it a problem – was the Denzel was so fantastic that he made everyone else look just good. Do you know what I mean? He raised the bar so high that everyone was trying to get to the same level that he was on. Sometimes they were there and sometimes they weren’t.

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Denzel Washington and Viola Davis on the Broadway revival of “Fences”

You really have to watch this.

Denzel Washington and Viola Davis talk about why they are doing this revival of Fences, their early careers in the theater and more.

This snippet is a little over 5 minutes but you can see the passion they have for the show, acting and life.

Watch it!

Update:
Here is the whole discussion. It’s broken down into 5 parts because YouTube can only handle shorter videos.