Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal are all set to star in a new adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Othello on Broadway. Kenny Leon, who won a Tony award for directing Washington in 2014’s A Raisin in the Sun will be directing the film.
While, Washington will be playing the titular role in Othello, one of William Shakespeare’s great tragedies, Gyllenhaal will be seen as Iago, the story’s villain.
The story follows Othello, ‘the Moor of Venice,” who is manipulated by Iago, Othello’s standard-bearer into believing his wife, Desdemona, is unfaithful, leading to tragic consequences for all three. Shakespeare’s Othello has been a great source for adaptation and it’s been done in many languages all over the world. What Washington and Gyllenhaal can bring this time, will be interesting to watch.
Jake Gyllenhaal Is Excited to Share the Screen with None Other Than Denzel Washington in Othello
Jake Gyllenhaal, best known for his film career with movies like Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Nightcrawler (2014) seems to be very eager to join Denzel Washington as he speaks his mind in a recent interview in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
As the host asked him what he feels like starring in such a classic and that too with Washington, Gyllenhaal exclaimed “It’s crazy.“
“Well, first of all, yeah, it’s Shakespeare, which is one thing, and then it’s with Denzel Washington, which is a whole other thing,” Gyllenhaal said.
“When you’re going to delve into something for that long where you know you’re going to learn — you know, you want to learn. And I don’t know if there are any two better people to learn from than Shakespeare and Denzel Washington,” he continued.
Citing his excitement to work with Washington, Gyllenhaal said he is intimidated by all of these.
“It really is a dream. I mean, I obviously have been like — he’s been an idol of mine. I’ve just looked up to him for years. So to be able to be on the stage with someone like that is just, it’s a dream come true,” the Road House star said of Washington.
Othello was last revived on Broadway in 1982 with James Earl Jones as Othello and Christopher Plummer as Iago. Actors who have played Othello include Laurence Fishburne, Anthony Hopkins, and Orson Welles.
Denzel Washington Shared His Excitement for Othello As Well
Denzel Washington, an acclaimed actor with two Academy Awards for Glory (1989) and Training Day (2001), has starred in five Broadway plays, with the most recent being the 2018 revival of The Iceman Cometh.
Washington earned his 10th Oscar nomination for a Shakespeare turn onscreen in the 2021 film The Tragedy of Macbeth. He also starred in Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing.
And, an actor of his stature is also very much up for Othello. Earlier, Washington told IndieWire in 2022, “Shakespeare, that’s the only challenge left for me. It’s the ultimate challenge.“
“I’m more interested in Shakespeare than anything else as an actor, at this point in my life or in my career,” the Equalizer actor added.
“You have to come up to the standard of Shakespeare. I don’t care who you are, if you can’t deliver, you will get exposed. And I love that: No pain, no gain.”
The star told ABC7’s On the Red Carpet that same year that Shakespeare is “the gift that keeps on giving.” He will next star alongside Paul Mescal in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2, which will be released on 22nd November 2024.
