“I’ve just been chopping wood”: Denzel Washington, Hollywood lumberjack and big-screen legend
Very few actors truly deserve the moniker of ‘legend’, but Denzel Washington is one of those actors.
Not only is he immensely talented, having delivered some truly knockout performances at every stage of his lengthy career, but he’s also been part of some of the most important moments in recent film history. A pioneer, a trailblazer, and an all-around stand-up guy. However, when you think about it, none of his films have been that successful.
According to a report published by Screen Rant in 2024, Washington’s highest-grossing film is Ridley Scott’s American Gangster. This has since been eclipsed by Gladiator II, which featured Washington as a wonderfully theatrical villain and grossed over $462million worldwide. His movies have grossed a total of $5.1 billion worldwide, but in an era where most top stars have multiple billion-dollar movies under their belt, this is a big shock.
According to a conversation he had with Deadline in 2023, Washington isn’t that fussed about his comparatively lacklustre box office scores. Early in his career, he was just focused on making his work as good as possible. In describing his slow and steady approach, he compared himself to a master of an entirely different profession.
“I feel like I’ve just been chopping wood,” he described the process. “I found my wheelhouse in films that cost $50 million, which, if they open at $20 million, will give the studios their money back. Nobody has asked me to put on tights for one of those superhero movies, and I’m not saying I wouldn’t have wanted to make $25 million when I was 25 years old, because I surely wouldn’t have walked away from it. But for me, spending $100 million or $150 million is questionable.”
Finding a ‘most successful period’ of Washington’s career is a big ask, but for the purposes of this analysis, we’re going to zero in on the 1990s. Some of his most famous films from this era – The Pelican Brief, Malcolm X, The Hurricane – were all made for $50 million or less. This came as budgets were beginning to rise; James Cameron’s True Lies became the first movie in history with a budget of $100 million.
As Washington said, however, his movies always made a profit. Even with a relatively small budget by today’s standards, his work always recouped money at the box office, which is what made him such a bankable star during this period.
Contrary to what you might think, movie budgets haven’t increased exponentially over time. The gap between the top and the bottom has increased, however. The number of ‘mid-budget’ movies costing between $50m and $100m is going down. It feels like everything at the cinema costs at least nine figures these days, while indie directors are working single-figure millions to bring their creations to life. The kind of films that Washington cut his teeth on are disappearing.
In an era where cinema attendances are going down, perhaps a return to mid-budget movies with one or two big stars in them is the way forward. We know one screen icon who would welcome this decision.
