Posted by | Cyrena Rose
Two-time Oscar winner and box-office giant Denzel Washington shows you how to dominate a double-breasted suit…
Washington chatted-it-up with GQ‘s Michael Hainey to talk about his first jobs, how his father influenced him, and why he won’t question his mojo. At the time of the interview, Denzel was in New Orleans filming his forty-second movie, 2 Guns, with Mark Wahlberg and Paula Patton.
We know his movies from Glory toTraining Day (both of which won him an Oscar), but what else do we know about one of the most dominant leading men of his generation? To most he remains a very public mystery.
Enjoy photos from his cover shoot and excerpts of his revealing interview:
What’s your first memory of being onstage? I was around 7, 8, whatever I was. We did a talent show at the Boys Club. Me and another guy, Wayne Bridges—God rest his soul—he’s the father of Chris Bridges, Ludacris. We decided to be the Beatles. So we went to John’s Bargain Store and bought fake guitars and wigs and did “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
Are there any roles you’ve turned down that you regret? Seven and Michael Clayton. With Clayton, it was the best material I had read in a long time, but I was nervous about a first-time director, and I was wrong. It happens.
Do you have any code you live by? I read from the Bible every day, and I read my Daily Word. I read something great yesterday. It said, “Don’t aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference.”
In some ways, you’re a cipher. There’s not much you put out there. But that’s not my job to put stuff out there. Sidney Poitier told me this years ago: “If they see you for free all week, they won’t pay to see you on the weekend, because they feel like they’ve seen you. If you walk by the magazine section in the supermarket and they’ve known you all their life, there’s no mystery. They can’t take the ride.” My professional work is being a better actor. I don’t know how to be a celebrity.
When the Denzel biopic is made, what would an actor need to have in his performance to make you say, “He got me”? That suggests I know what it is, and I don’t want to know what it is. That’s part of the mystery. It is what it is. I don’t go, “I gotta make sure I put some of that Denzel Washington-ism in the movie.” I don’t want tricks. I don’t want to lose my mojo.
Denzel Washington’s GQ October Style Playbook issue will be on newsstands September 25. In it the actor also reveals his oldest daughter Katia Washington (she’ll be 25 in November) is involved in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, why he didn’t shed a tear at his father’s funeral, his feelings about Whitney Houston’s death and more.
Washington’s next movie to hit the big screen is Flight!
