Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington is a favorite actor in our household. My husband lists him high amongst his favorite actors, as do I. I believe our oldest daughter, Emily, would be first in line to watch the actor read a New York City phone book. If… that is… she beat my husband to the front of the line.

Below are some of my favorite quotes by Denzel Washington, followed by a few Did You Know’s.

Denzel Washington Quotes

(About “The Book of Eli”) – We shot in New Mexico, and the environment definitely helped. It was bleak. It got chilly and windy. The wind was the biggest deal. You’d have to wash the sand out of your nose and eyes. The world that the movie takes place in, the opportunity to do all this “Blade” kind of martial-arts stuff, working with the Hughes brothers — it was an interesting combination of things.

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(About “Training Day”) – My son talked me into doing that movie. He was like, ‘Dad, you’ve never done anything like this.’ I just hadn’t been asked before. The only film that was sort of dark that I’d turned down was “Se7en.” They offered me the Brad Pitt part, but I was like, ‘This is so dark and evil.’ Then when I saw the movie, I was like, ‘Oh, shoot.’

(About “Philadelphia” with Tom Hanks) – (Director) Jonathan Demme said to me, ‘Look, we don’t want your character to go 360 degrees. It’s not like by the end of the movie he’s leading a gay and lesbian parade.’ If we’d done that, it would have let people like this character off the hook. But at the end, he touches (Tom Hanks’ character) – and that’s huge for him. [Pauses, then laughs] I used to mess with Tom. He was barely eating at all, and I would put out, like, 200 Almond Joys in his drawer to give him a hard time. I’d pretend to sneeze and all these Snickers would fall on the ground. I’m sure he laughed all the way up to the podium when he won the Oscar.

(About the whipping scene in “Glory”) – I remember walking around before that scene, just praying and calling on the spirits of all the slaves, because I didn’t know how to play it. I was like, ‘Okay, fellas, just tell me what to do.’ And I went out there with an arrogance. I spit on the ground. I had this attitude and this strength – it all came out of this meditation. It wasn’t calculated. It was organic. That whip actually hurt, but I was like, ‘Don’t let him win.’

I’m very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That’s my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it’s not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.

(About where he likes to keep his Oscars) “Next to each other.”

(About turning 50) “I have a friend who says ‘the first 50 was for them, this 50′s for me’. I like that. The weirdest part of it, or even the saddest part, is that you start to see people die. You go ‘Man! He wasn’t even that old’. I lost a friend recently who died of a heart attack. He was 58. When I was 20, 58 was old. It ain’t now.”

The Book of Eli Masterprint
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Denzel Washington: Did You Know?

Supports charities such as the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, and the Gathering Place (an AIDS hospice).

Denzel Washington met his wife Pauletta Washington in 1977 when both had small roles in the TV-movie Wilma (1977). They wed five years later and have been together ever since.

His father was a Pentecostal minister; his mother a beautician and former gospel singer.

Washington is a spokesperson for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Denzel Washington was the second black actor (the great Sidney Poitier was the first) to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (for Training Day – 2001).

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Tom Hanks said working with Washington on Philadelphia (in 1993) was like “going to film school”. Hanks said he learned more about acting by watching Denzel than from anyone else.

Denzel Washington was the second of three children.

His performance as Malcolm X in the film Malcolm X is ranked #17 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Denzel Washington is very good friends with actress Julia Roberts.

He spent months on the beat with Washington Post reporters to prepare for The Pelican Brief.

Denzel Washington named Gene Hackman, Angelina Jolie, and Dakota Fanning as the most talented actors he has ever worked with.

He turned down the role that went to George Clooney in Michael Clayton.

Actor Denzel Washington Holding His Oscar in Press Room at Academy Awards Premium Photographic Print
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Spike Lee scored his biggest hit to date with Inside Man, an unconventional thriller with fascinating details in the margins of its convoluted plot. The screenplay (by first-timer Russell Gerwitz) could’ve used a few more rewrites; it moves at a brisk pace but in hindsight a lot of it doesn’t make sense. That makes Inside Man more fun to watch than to think about afterwards (when you discover plot holes big enough to drive a truck through), but it’s curiously involving, especially as NYPD Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) struggles to outsmart a high-stakes bank robber (Clive Owen) who, along with a well-trained crew of accomplices, has seized control of a Wall Street bank, turning what initially looks like a hostage crisis into a personal crusade to expose some mysterious evil secrets. As you might expect from the director of Do the Right Thing, Lee seizes several satisfying opportunities to examine post-9/11 issues of racial prejudice and domestic terrorism, and the mysterious “problem solver” Madeline White (Jodie Foster), as eerily sinister as she is vaguely defined, is worthy of her own movie. With the benefit of his most stellar cast to date (including Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor), Lee seems more interested in character details than well-crafted suspense, but that doesn’t stop Inside Man from being engrossing, subtly amusing, and quirky enough to qualify as a welcomed break from the formulaic thrillers that are Hollywood’s bread and butter.–Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Academy Award winner Denzel Washington, Academy Award nominee Clive Owen and Academy Award winner Jodie Foster star in this intense and explosive crime thriller. The perfect bank robbery quickly spirals into an unstable and deadly game of cat-and-mouse between a criminal mastermind (Owen), a determined detective (Washington), and a power broker with a hidden agenda (Foster). As the minutes tick by and the situation becomes increasingly tense, one wrong move could mean disaster for any one of them. From acclaimed director Spike Lee comes the edge-of-your-seat, action-packed thriller that The Wall Street Journal calls “a heist film that’s right on the money.”

Inside Man: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Mesmerizing Jodie Foster

by Joi

Inside Man with Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, and Jodie Foster is probably one of my favorite Denzel Washington movies. It’s definitely my favorite Clive Owen movie – I think this is his best role ever. He seemed to have a lot of fun with the character (Dalton Russell). In fact, I’d love to see the actor play more villains. It seems to be something he relishes.

I also loved Jodie Foster in this movie. As Madeleine White, she oozed sex appeal and her performance and presence can only be called mesmerizing. Personally, I think she all but stole the movie. Fellow Jodie Foster fans will rank this as one of their favorite movies on Foster’s performance alone. She proved, even with a role that didn’t take up a lot of screen time (not nearly as much as you’d like for it to) that she is one of the most powerful actresses ever. When she’s onscreen, she doesn’t just command attention, she demands it – subtly but oh so powerfully!

The star of course, however, is Mr. Denzel Washington. He was flawless (as always) in the lead role as NYPD Detective Keith Frazier. The viewer has no problem at all believing that he is a New York detective. Whatever character this actor takes on is 100 percent believable – he becomes the character through and through. The A list celebrity and award-winning actor loses himself entirely in the role. All that is left is the character and his story, without a trace of Denzel Washington to be found. It’s one of the reasons he’s a favorite actor of mine – as well as the rest of the world’s!

Another star of the movie was William Dafoe as Captain John Darius. He played a gritty, hardened captain of police and, like Denzel Washington, he was 100 percent believable.

Lost fans will also recognize Ken Leung (Miles on Lost) in a small role. As someone who is missing Lost like mad, it was GREAT to see a familiar face!

Spike Lee directed Inside Man and did an exceptional job. He also directed the masterpiece that was Malcolm X – also starring Denzel Washington. Often Spike Lee comes across as angry, controversial, and extremely outspoken. Personally, I think most pioneers in their chosen fields come across this way. I believe the ones that go on to greatness take these emotions and use them as the vehicle that drives them to success. Two of the best-directed movies I can think of (Malcolm X and Inside Man) were directed by Spike Lee, so there you go. Love him or hate him (or somewhere in between), the man’s darn good at what he does.

Inside Man Double-sided poster
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