Denzel Washington is unarguably one of the best actors and personality as a whole that the entertainment industry could ever be gifted with. Not only is he one of the most respectable celebrities in all of Hollywood, he is also one of the most widely commended actors of all time. If anything, he doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind and act his heart out.
That being said, he also aimed to break one long-standing stereotype about him while working on his 2001 thriller-crime masterpiece with Ethan Hawke, Training Day. According to what Hawke shared during an interview, even when people tried to stop him, Washington stayed on his decision to prove that he could play a bad guy and still be a role model by “being great at my job.”
Denzel Washington Wanted to Break a Stereotype with Training Day
As those who have already seen the movie know, Training Day stars Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris of L.A.P.D, who actually turns out to be the primary antagonist of the movie. Needless to say, this role was new for him because he had played nothing but the good guy before the 2001 masterpiece in all of his projects.
Plus, this villainous role also held the risk of bringing down a heap of controversy to surround him because of racism as well. However, The Equalizer actor was anything but afraid to take on this role irrespective of all the risks surrounding it, as long as he could end up breaking this very stereotype about him through it.
In fact, he even counterargued with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People just for this very role. As Hawke, his co-star from the movie, shared in an interview with THR, Washington’s reported response to being stopped by the NAACP was:
“What, Al Pacino can play a bad guy. Gene Hackman can play a bad guy. I can’t play a bad guy?”
Not only that, but the legendary actor even continued to justify just why he could play the bad guy as well. According to what Ethan Hawke shared, Washington reportedly said:
“I’m an artist. That’s how I lead, not by being some dubious role model by only playing squeaky clean people. I’ll be a role model by being great at my job.”
Well, that was that and the rest was history, because not only was Washington critically commended by both critics and general audiences for his absolutely jaw-dropping work in the thriller-crime masterpiece, but he also scored his first Oscar award for the Best Actor in a Leading Role category through the same!
Denzel Washington Broke Another Stereotype Regarding the Oscars
While breaking the good-guy stereotype surrounding him was one thing, Washington also broke another major stereotype regarding the Oscars. This happened back at the 74th Academy Awards ceremony, where he was nominated and won the accolade for Best Actor while his co-star Hawke was left only in the nominations stage.
As Hawke recently recalled during his recent appearance on Max’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace about what the Man on Fire actor told him after he lost that Academy Award to James Broadbent:
“[Washington said:] You don’t want an award to improve your status. You want to improve the award’s status.”
Just like that, he made it evident that scoring an Oscar wasn’t what made one a better actor, but rather, it was one’s performance that justified their brilliance. As Hawke then said about Washington:
“I think when all is said and done, he’s the greatest actor of our generation. The Academy Award has more power because Denzel has a couple. It didn’t elevate who he was.”
Needless to say, Denzel Washington is an inevitable legend; the best and one of the most realistic ones that the entertainment industry could ever, ever be gifted with.
You can watch Training Day on Prime Video.
