00:00We're thinking about stealing that, you know, with trouble with customs.
00:03I'm pretty sure they'll let Denzel Washington through customs.
00:06What if I just, like, had it on my head?
00:09I don't think there'd be anything. They'd just be like,
00:11he's doing a thing. He's in character. He's going method, like, in post.
00:17Denzel Washington, hello, sir. Good to meet you, man.
00:20I have the trust of the Emperors.
00:22It will clear my path to the throne.
00:25I must have power.
00:26Whose head could I give you to satisfy your fury?
00:30Congratulations on the movie.
00:31How much fun was the, kind of, the physicality of this one?
00:33Because it made me want to go out and buy a robe with all the, kind of...
00:37I think you should get... I'm selling them. I got some on the side.
00:40That's all I can do, though.
00:41Tonight, go home, grab a sheet, literally.
00:45Throw it around, put your arms... a sheet.
00:48Let it roll over the sides and you can practice. That's how I did it.
00:50We'll have to see what my missus thinks of that.
00:52I got a 12-week-old baby at home.
00:54She'll probably just think I've finally lost it from lack of sleep.
00:58But your child will enjoy it, though.
00:59Yeah, yeah, I think he will. He'll get a kick out of it.
01:02I also enjoy when the first trailers came out
01:06and there was, like, the mild panic around using an American accent.
01:10As if, somehow, in ancient Rome, everyone was walking around with
01:13posh bad guy British accents or something.
01:15Yeah, did any... were there any Italian accents? Any Roman?
01:20What is a Roman accent?
01:22Not at all.
01:22British, I guess, huh?
01:23Yeah, yeah, it was all British at the time.
01:25Was there any temptation of, like, digging out the old...
01:29What was it?
01:29Faux...
01:30For Queen and Country. Do you remember that?
01:31I don't understand this.
01:34I had a British passport.
01:36Oh, you mean like a...
01:37The old, like, Cockney accent or something.
01:38That would have been something.
01:40My name isn't Matt Winners, right?
01:41That would have been...
01:42That's it.
01:44I'm trying to remember.
01:45Swings and roundabouts, it's all swings and roundabouts, isn't it?
01:48Yeah, yeah, they say a lot of nonsense in East London.
01:50Yeah.
01:50You can put me out there as a front gunner to get me bleeding head blown off.
01:54I remember watching that movie and thinking it was like a fever dream back in the day going...
01:57That's the reason I didn't use an accent on this film.
02:00I was terrible in that. That accent was awful.
02:03Don't be daft.
02:04Awful.
02:04I'll tell you what, though.
02:05A lot of your kind of early movies, some of my favourite performances,
02:08I absolutely love Glory and Cry Freedom, then it's like Malcolm X.
02:14And I wondered, with you kind of very much at the peak of your powers in a film like this,
02:19how do you feel you've changed from those performances back then?
02:23How have you changed as an actor?
02:25Just experience, you know, 40 whatever amount of movies of experience.
02:31You know, when a film like Malcolm X comes on television or something,
02:35or I'll look at a scene, I'll go, man, it was just green.
02:40That's how I look, and skinny.
02:43But, you know, just experience.
02:46Hopefully you gain some experience as you mature.
02:50The man I work for had one of the biggest companies in New York City.
02:54He didn't own his own company.
02:56White man owned it, so they owned him.
02:57This is the second time I think you've teamed up with Ridley, the American gangster.
03:01How has he kind of like changed?
03:03How has that experience changed since working together before?
03:06Was it just like wearing a comfortable pair of gloves,
03:09or have you both developed and changed your method in any way since then,
03:15where it was a different feeling, different experience working together again?
03:17It was different because this was such a big film,
03:20so he had a lot of elements to be dealing with.
03:22You know, American gangster was about that guy, and the cameras were closer.
03:29You know, he's one of the best to ever do it, so I just leave him.
03:33He leaves me alone, and I leave him alone.
03:35We didn't have a lot of conversations, or it wasn't a lot of,
03:38oh, try this, try that, actor, director kind of stuff.
03:41And I wanted to bring up, it was the London Film Festival recently,
03:45and I was there for the screening of The Piano Lesson,
03:48which was excellent, obviously directed by this.
03:51Yes, I wrote and directed that as well.
03:53You wrote and directed it, congratulations.
03:53Yeah, between days on Gladiator.
03:56And I wondered, seeing your children kind of come into this industry and find their voice,
04:05well, utilising August Wilson's voice, which obviously you've done yourself before,
04:08how gratifying has that been for you as a father and as a kind of creative
04:15to see that happen so seemingly seamlessly?
04:19Amazing, and no one sees the preparation behind the scenes.
04:25You know, Malcolm studied film history at the University of Pennsylvania,
04:30and then studied filmmaking at the American Film Institute.
04:33In fact, he graduated number one in his class.
04:36And he's done a variety of things, probably a little producing, a little shorts,
04:40a little of this, a little of that.
04:41And he made a film, co-wrote a film, and he's just been slowly coming along.
04:48He had a take on Piano Lesson.
04:52He said, Dad, let me put something together and show you what I think of a way to maybe
04:58do something different.
04:59And basically, he was saying, you know, I didn't do a good job or something.
05:03And he made this little short film and all these.
05:06I was like, wow.
05:07Well, I was like, you want to direct it?
05:09He said, no, I want to.
05:11I don't know if it's a film I can make or what.
05:13I forgot how he put it, but he wanted to write it for us.
05:15I'm like, we hired him.
05:17He wrote it.
05:18They wrote a brilliant script.
05:19We were like, do you want to direct it now?
05:22And he's like, yeah, and here we are.
05:24Well, I look forward to seeing if you guys ever bring that together in the future.
05:30I guess it kind of puts on a pedestal.
05:32There'll be a lot of expectation around it, but you won't want to break up the family
05:35over it or anything.
05:36Well, you know, they're all doing their thing.
05:39Our youngest daughter was here in the West End with Slave Play.
05:42She's maybe going to Broadway now.
05:44Our other daughter's executive producer on the next film I'm doing, Hannibal.
05:49And Malcolm, I don't know, he's fielding offers, I guess.
05:52And John Davis, he's doing all right.
05:54Well, mate, I'm here for the Washington dynasty.
05:56We're coming for the Barrymores.
05:57That's what it is.
05:58Did they have any directors, the Barrymores?
06:01I don't think so.
06:02What other family?
06:03What other big families?
06:04Foxes that are big in the UK for mostly acting.
06:07But in terms of directors, I mean, the Scots are a big one.
06:11No actors, though.
06:12Yeah, no actors.
06:13We'll see.
06:14We'll see.
06:14I'd love to take up more of your time, but it's been a pleasure.
06:17Congratulations on the movie.
06:18It's just a lot of fun to watch.
06:20It's great for cinema.
06:21And hopefully we'll catch you on the next one.
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