Denzel Washington announces plans to retire soon after ‘Black Panther 3’
Denzel Washington has announced that his retirement from acting is imminent. During the press tour for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, in which the Oscar winner plays a former slave who is quickly rising through the ranks of Roman, he said that director Ryan Coogler is writing a part for him in the third instalment of the Black Panther franchise. Once that’s over, however, he doesn’t plan to make many more films.
In an interview with Variety in August, the actor first hinted that retirement might be on the near horizon when he said that there just weren’t that many more roles he felt compelled to play.
“There are very few films left for me to make that I’m interested in,” he explained, “And I have to be inspired by the filmmaker.”
This week, however, Washington got more specific about the projects he plans to appear in before he steps down as one of the most beloved and respected stars of his generation. Black Panther is one of them, as is Shakespeare’s Othello, which will be a Broadway production co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal starting in February.
“I played Othello at 22,” he said (via Variety). “I am about to play Othello at 70. After that, I am playing Hannibal. After that, I’ve been talking to Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther. After that, I’m going to do the film Othello. After that, I’m going to do King Lear. After that, I’m going to retire.”
Rather than being a reference to the psychotic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, his mention of “Hannibal” was a nod toward an upcoming Antoine Fuqua war movie that will star Washington as the notorious Carthaginian general. As for the McQueen project, the details remain secret.
Information on the third Black Panther film is equally spotty given that Marvel hasn’t yet announced it, but Washington and Coogler’s involvement in the project suggests preproduction is well underway. The hit franchise is one of the bright spots in Marvel’s ever expanding universe, and its star, the late Chadwick Boseman, credited Washington with its very existence.
“There is no Black Panther without Denzel Washington,” he said while presenting him with an AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, revealing that the actor had paid for him to take acting classes when he was a kid.
For those hoping to see Washington on the big screen before these top secret projects, Gladiator II is releasing worldwide on November 22nd. Washington is also starring in Spike Lee’s upcoming adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller High and Low, which is now in post-production and will be distributed by A24.
