Denzel Washington on the “complicated” brilliance of Jake Gyllenhaal: “He’s nuts”
Denzel Washington has paid his dues as a Hollywood leading man and is entering his era of carefree abandon. Have you seen Gladiator II? Do you remember how many syllables he throws into the word ‘politics’ and how much he seems to be relishing those toga sleeves? That, my friends, is a liberated Denzel, a man at the top of his game who takes risks casually, secure in the knowledge that he’s made his mark, proven his dominance, and can just get loose with it.
If there is anyone out there who is unfamiliar with Washington’s credentials, let’s do a quick debrief. He’s won two Oscars, one for his performance in the period war movie Glory in 1990 and one for his performance as a brutal police detective in Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day in 2002. He’s also earned eight further nominations, including for his portrayal of the titular civil rights leader in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, which is often regarded as his greatest performance.
Washington has also appeared alongside a formidable list of famous names over the years, including the likes of Viola Davis, Frances McDormand, Ryan Reynolds, Russell Crowe, and Jodie Foster, to name but a few. He’s had ample opportunity to see the biggest stars at their most eccentric, but there was one who earned a special mystified chuckle from him. During an interview with The New York Times, the Oscar winner was asked about his Broadway turn in Shakespeare’s Othello, and he brought up his co-star Jake Gyllenhaal.
“He’s a complicated guy,” Washington said. “He’s going to be brilliant in this.”
Shakespeare’s classic tragedy follows the title character, a military commander also known as the ‘Moor of Venice’, whose malevolent underling, Iago, manipulates him into thinking that his wife, Desdemona, is having an affair. In the Broadway production, Gyllenhaal played Iago, and, if you’re reading between the lines, he was an interesting co-star. Actually, you don’t even have to read between the lines.
“He’s nuts,” Washington said. “I love him. He’s complicated.” These spare sentences are laden with subtext, but it’s tough to know what they might be alluding to, especially considering that most of Gyllenhaal’s co-stars from previous projects have been effusive in their admiration and affection for him.
Perhaps it’s worth noting that the interview in which Washington said all this was, at times, excruciating to listen to (or read if you’re opting for the text version). He lightly hazed the interviewer, refused to answer questions, and generally tried to throw him off balance for an uncomfortably long time. In other words, it would be interesting to hear Gyllenhaal’s take on Washington.
What we do know is that their production of Othello was so hotly anticipated that it turned into the most expensive Broadway production of all time from the audience’s perspective. Ticket prices soared as high as $921, an absurd amount even in this age of rampant inflation. Neither actor ended up with a Tony nomination for their efforts, which was probably due to the play’s tepid reception and a backlash against the Hollywood-ification of the 2025 American theatre scene.
