Denzel Washington cites the worst period of his career

(Credit: Alamy)

Sun, December 8, 2024 8:15 p.m., United Kingdom

If you look at all the Hollywood greats whose careers spanned decades, they all had periods where things went a little pear-shaped. After all, Steven Spielberg once said that making a movie is very difficult, but making a good movie is almost impossible. So it stands to reason that not every film in a long career will be a success. Denzel Washington will attest to this, as he recently admitted that there was a period in his career, spanning more than four decades, where he made a succession of bad films.

In November 2024, Washington spoke with The times to discuss his rich career. Much to the interviewer’s surprise, he revealed that he had never watched one of his own films all the way through. He admitted: “I watch it to know what I’m talking about. But I haven’t watched any movie from my past from start to finish, not even Malcolm X. All you see is what you did wrong. And why would you do it anyway? The iconic star also admitted that he doesn’t read reviews of his work because he worries that good or bad comments could affect the way he approaches a performance.

However, this is not to say that Washington ignores prevailing opinion on his films. The truth is, even if he’s never watched a whole one, he still knows which ones were good. He was even able to identify which stage of his life featured his worst films and he followed it up with a fascinating explanation of why they all happened at that particular time period.

Washington revealed that he believes there are three stages to everyone’s life. He explained: “You learn, you earn, and then you come back – as if to give back. So if your life lasts 90 years, until age 30 you learn and from age 30 to 60 you earn.

That middle period — the winning stage — came in the 1990s for Washington, who was 36 at the start of that decade. During this period, he embraced becoming a leading man in Hollywood, with all the accoutrements that came with it. However, he confessed that his life situation prevented him from being motivated solely by art. After all, at that time he had responsibilities at home. He explained: “With a great agent, my career was built around making money, and so the income started, and then life started too, with bills, four kids and a house. »

In essence, Washington was saying that he began taking on roles in the ’90s where the main motivator was the size of his salary. Naturally, this isn’t always conducive to making the most artistically daring or creatively satisfying films. THE Gladiator II the star admitted: “After Malcolm XI did some real stupid things. Look them up – I won’t say their names.

Although he wouldn’t mention any of the films by name, it’s pretty obvious which films Washington was referring to. A quick glance at his post-Malcolm Virtuosity and John Grisham’s mediocre adaptation The Pelican file. He also dealt with serial killers Fallen And The Bone Collector following a glut of these films caused by the success of Se7en. However, both pale in comparison to Fincher’s dark masterpiece, which Washington turned down – and later admitted was a big mistake.

The star may be treating his decade a little too harshly, as he also directed several acclaimed films in the ’90s. Philadelphia, Crimson Tide, He has some game, Courage under fireAnd The hurricane are all loved, and Devil in a blue dress has built a significant cult following over the years. These films all help to make up for the lesser efforts that have been rightly doomed to the cinematic scrap heap.

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