Denzel Washington explains why he'll NEVER act with a British accent again

ODE

The movie icon returns to thew screen with Sir Ridley Scott's Gladiator II, but he's keeping his own voice in this one. Report by Nelsonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Transcript

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.

Category

Transcript

Recommended