Words by Terry Shropshire Images by Hiltron Bailey for Steed Media Service
NEW YORK – A battalion of ominous black storm clouds, teeming
with atmosphere-altering motives, invades the airspace above Upper
Manhattan and menacingly sizes up the world-renowned Apollo Theater.
The sun, which threw down a blanket of warmth just moments earlier,
beats a hasty retreat behind the horizon. These aerial intruders seem
intent on mocking this most momentous (and rarest) of occasions as it prepares Harlem
and the world premiere of American Gangster for a torrential thrashing.
But for all of its pretense and posturing, the clouds merely belched some minor
precipitation, opting instead to survey the sensational spectacle below. There were enough
stars in attendance to decorate a Christmas tree in Times Square. The requisite contingent
of hip-hop stars were orbited by a constellation of hangers-on, and flanked by female
groupies with enough meat on them to feed a pride of lions for a week.
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Denzel Hayes Washington Jr., regal in presence and resplendent in appearance, looked
at least 10 years younger than his 52 years. The acclaimed actor approached the red
carpet following a palatial procession of family, friends and dignitaries which included;
his wife of 24 years, Pauletta (Pearson) Washington, Diddy, Jay-Z, TV empress Barbara
Walters, Method Man, L.A. Reid, Judge Greg Mathis and Rev. Al Sharpton, as well as
A-list thespians Diane Lane, Armand Assante, Josh Brolin and Cuba Gooding Jr. Notables
like Destiny’s Child’s Michelle Williams, comedian Damon Wayans, and Mel Gibson came
out to the Los Angeles premiere a week later. Just before the red carpet tent was closed,
Washington and those massive walls of humanity called his bodyguards escorted the local
hero to the pandemonium behind the barricades to shake hands with his frenetic fans.
When they saw their “Denzel” coming, they unfurled bloodcurdling screams that were loud
enough to halt birds in mid-flight.
The fact that organizers chose to hold the premiere and afterparty in Harlem was
shocking to most reporters, who are accustomed to the more ostentatious hotel palaces
further south in Midtown Manhattan. Another departure from convention was the decision
by Hollywood moguls to shell out big money to make the film, American Gangster, about
African American crime figure Frank Lucas. Detailed extensively in national publications,
Lucas’ real-life story is astonishing to most, because of the sheer depth and scope of
his international empire and the absolute audacity of his will. Frank Lucas was a ‘70sera
gangster whose meteoric rise in the international heroin enterprise elevated his status
above that of the Italian Mafia — even to the point that some of the mafiosi worked for him.
So when Washington is asked about where American Gangster falls within the pantheon
of classic gangster films (i.e., the Godfather trilogy, Goodfellas, Scarface, etc.), he speaks
about this crime of omission in the nation’s history.
“Well, I can say for one, of all those films that you mentioned, there [are] no black people
in any of them,” says the two-time Academy Award winner. “So for one, this is a Harlem
story about a guy who’s a kingpin, a different kind of kingpin. The situation is basically
the same, different movies of course, the business was the same. But this is different; it’s
dealing with a guy from Uptown.”
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Washington’s family is also from Uptown (his mother was born in Harlem and he was
raised in nearby Mount Vernon, N.Y.), which partially explains why locals treat him like a
priceless artifact. After three decades in the business, Washington is accustomed to such
genuflection whenever he ventures out into public . What is not so well-known is the universal
admiration he garners from those in the industry. There is something about the man known
simply as Denzel, that after
having worked with him, actors
emerge from the collaboration
as if they’ve experienced a
religious conversion. And we’re
not just talking about B-level,
nebulous schlebs panting over
Washington like lapdog flunkies.
These are longtime moviemakers
and thespians that often
provide unsolicited testimony to
Washington’s singular greatness.
Two-time Oscar winner Tom
Hanks (Forrest Gump) called
his work with Washington on
Philadelphia like “going to
film school,” adding that he
learned more about acting from
Washington than anyone he ever
met. Last year, two-time Academy
Award winner Jodie Foster, who
starred opposite Washington in
Inside Man, fawned over him like
a teenager with a crush, saying
“he is simply the best actor I’ve
ever worked with.”
And who will ever forget
the frenetic, one-woman
cheerleading campaign Julia
Roberts engineered to help (in
her mind, anyways) Washington
bring home the Oscar for Training
Day in 2001. “He is the best
actor of this generation, hands
down. I cannot absorb living in
a world where I have an Oscar
for Best Actress, and Denzel
doesn’t have one for Best Actor,”
Roberts told People magazine
that year. “He should be on his
third Oscar by now, and that
might not be enough.”
His extraordinary acting skills
alone aren’t the only justification
for the level of respect he
receives inside and outside the
industry. True, Washington has
already received the most Oscars (two) and
the most Academy Award nominations (five)
of any actor of color in the annals of the
motion picture industry. Some point to his
sense of priorities, his ordinary/everyman
disposition, and his undying devotion to his
family, whom he has fiercely cordoned off
from media scrutiny.
“Acting for me is like making a living. But
it’s not my life,” he says. And while many
other stars have subsisted on Hollywood
fame, mone and stature, while their families
suffered from emotional malnourishment,
Washington has sidestepped fame’s
delectable and sometimes hypnotic
trappings. He simply has something that
provides infinitely more sustenance. “My
wife, my children…that’s life. That’s the
miracle of what life’s all about.”
For Washington, life is all about cheering
on his oldest son, 23-year-old John David.
He was frequently spotted cheering at
Morehouse College football games, prior to
John’s David’s being drafted by the St. Louis
Rams in 2006. Life is about nurturing the
scholastic genius of his eldest daughter,
20-year-old Katia, who is now attending
Yale University. It’s about raising his twins,
16-year-olds Olivia and Malcolm, the latter
being named for the fiery civil rights leader
Malcolm X. Life is about renewing his
commitment to the woman of his dreams,
Pauletta, the woman he met in 1977 on
the set of his first film role, Wilma, the story
of legendary track star Wilma Rudolph. In
1995, the couple renewed their wedding
vows in South Africa. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the
venerated South African apartheid abolitionist, officiated the
ceremony. Life is about laughing about Halloween trick-ortreat
visits from baseball megastar Barry Bonds and 100 of
Bonds’ friends. Or it’s simply hanging out with the families of
Magic Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson in the same Beverly
Hills neighborhood. His devotion and zealous guarding of
personal relationships, as well as the sustenance he has
received from them, may have helped him avoid becoming
prey to scandal-seeking tabloids. There was the brief editorial
hiccup about an alleged tryst with Out of Time co-star Sanaa
Lathan. But that brief flare-up of a rumor quickly died for lack
of oxygen and credibility.
While superstars of many genres are begrudgingly admired
for their unparalleled skills but are about as cuddly as a pissedoff
porcupine, Washington comes off as warm and likeable.
Some call it dignity, but dignity, Washington explains, is not
something he packs along in his back pocket and surgically
inserts into his characters. The dignity Washington exudes is
simply an extension of his innate personality, he told rolling
out TV. “I just bring myself to the role. I don’t know how to
play dignified,” he says on the red carpet in Los Angeles, one
week after the New York premiere. “I just bring myself to the
role and try to bring the role to me.”
And Washington brings it like few ever have in Hollywood
history. It’s this indefinable intangible that makes his screen
presence so searing and his portrayals so believable. The
evidence abounds in such characters as Herman Boone in
the $100 million box-office smash, Remember the Titans.
Or in his Academy Award-nominated performances as
Malcolm X in the film of the same name, and Reuben Carter
in Hurricane. Then there was his critically acclaimed role as
Steven Biko in Cry Freedom.
Now there is the prize role of Frank Lucas in the American
Gangster film that features enough award winners to stock
a hardware store. In addition to Washington, the film’s stars
include Russell Crowe (Oscar, Gladiator); Cuba Gooding
Jr. (Oscar, Jerry Maguire); and Grammy-winning rapper
Common. The film was produced by Brian Grazer (Oscar,
Gladiator); directed by Ridley Scott (Oscar, Gladiator); and
written by Steven Zaillian (Oscar, Schindler’s List). Grammy
winner Jay-Z posted up on the motion picture’s soundtrack.
 Since Training Day forever changed the perception of
the good-guy-hero roles that Washington was known for,
he has repeatedly stated that he’ll take any role that comes
to him, as long as it’s good. Washington, whose trademark
has been good guy roles, as in the highly acclaimed film
Glory (for which he won his first Academy Award), and the
much lauded The Pelican Brief, Remember the Titans, The
Preacher’s Wife, Courage Under Fire and Philadelphia, is as
apt to revel in deliciously wicked roles, like when he portrayed
an unscrupulous cop in Training Day, which won him an
Oscar for Best Actor.
“I wasn’t hesitant at all [to play the outlaw Lucas]. A good
story is a good story. Before Training Day, I hadn’t really been
offered that kind of role,” he explains. “So, after Training Day,
that was all I was offered. Not all, that’s not true, but then I was
offered more [of] that kind of thing. It comes down to good
material, great actors to work with and [a] great filmmaker.”
Washington’s
Capital:
Denzel Washington has not only become one of
the most respected and acclaimed actors of his
generation; he’s also one of the most bankable*: |
| Film |
Gross |
Déjà Vu:
Inside Man:
Man On Fire:
Training Day:
Remember the Titans:
The Bone Collector:
Courage Under Fire:
Philadelphia:
Malcolm X: |
$64,038,616
$88,513,495
$77,911,774
$76,631,907
$115,654,751
$66,518,655
$59,031,057
$77,446,440
$48,169,910 |
| *courtesy Box Office Mojo |
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Character Development:
Even in his film debut,
(the highly forgettable
lightweight comedy Carbon
Copy), Denzel Washington
has always exuded a
commanding screen
presence. Matching the
intense dignity of Sidney Poitier with the gritty
realism of Marlon Brando, Washington’s potent
combination of everyman as well as the leading
man, have given him a considerable following. But
more than that, Washington’s versatility as an actor
has always brought a certain dignity and honesty to
potentially controversial roles. His turn as a bitter
former slave in Glory garnered his first Oscar statue,
and in Malcolm X, he turned a man many perceived
to be an intense firebrand
into a vulnerable conflicted
— but still commanding
civil rights leader. He’s
portrayed a bigoted lawyer
forced to confront his own
prejudices in Philadelphia,
forcing the nation in general, (and many African
Americans in particular), to face the reality of AIDS
and homophobia; and even brought gravitas to
the despicable Detective Alonzo Harris in 2002’s
Training Day, which earned Washington his second
Academy Award win. Those Oscar wins meant a lot
for the actor himself, but even more for his peers
— and the community.
“The majority of the Academy are white
Americans, and white American actors are going
to win,” fellow actor Will Smith acknowledged in
2002. “The breakthrough is an acknowledgment of
what the level of work truly is.”
Denzel’s ‘level of work’ has always carried an air
of importance. The inherent dignity of Washington;
a man who is true to himself, and always true to
the character, is what has made him so captivating
in the 30-plus years of his career. If Tom Hanks
is the likeable ‘regular guy’ and Will Smith is the
charming ladies’ man, then Denzel Washington is
the embodiment of both; the dignified statesman
who breathes life into every role. –todd williams |
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