“I was just watching him”: the legendary co-star Denzel Washington was entranced by
Thanks to his position as one of the all-time greats, Denzel Washington is a name that aspiring actors not only look up to and idolise but dream of working with.
It would be foolish to imagine anyone setting out to pursue a career treading the boards or gracing the silver screen with designs on becoming an icon. Still, the longer he spent in the business, the more inevitable it became that Washington would be remembered as among the best of his generation.
He grew up enthralled by the work of Sidney Poitier not only for his performative prowess but also the barriers he broke down in Hollywood when his star shone so brightly it simply couldn’t be denied. It’s a role Washington himself has now settled into as he evolves into an elder statesman of the industry.
Even A-listers end up starstruck in his presence, with Ryan Reynolds a household name in his own right when they worked together on the action thriller Safe House. He was a fan first and foremost, though, so much so that he was repeatedly caught doing nothing but staring at Washington after being “entranced” by the sheer presence and aura of his illustrious colleague.
When that information made its way to the two-time Academy Award winner’s ears, he self-deprecatingly took it on the chin. “Oh, is that what it was?” he said to the Yorkshire Post. “I just thought he was terrible.” Criticisms of Reynolds’ talents aside, Washington didn’t mind being gawked at because he’d been in the exact same situation before.
“I’ve been in those shoes,” he admitted. “I remember I did a movie, years ago, called Crimson Tide, and I was working with Gene Hackman. We were doing a scene, and after a while, I was doing the same thing. I was just watching him, Gene Hackman.”
Crimson Tide was a pivotal moment for Washington in more ways than one, and not just because it marked the first film he made with four-time collaborator Tony Scott. It was also the first time he’d been awarded top billing in an expensive blockbuster, the biggest litmus test of his leading man credentials so far.
He additionally had to hold his own against the formidable Hackman, with the two-hander between them driving the entire story as Washington’s inexperienced officer leads a mutiny against the grizzled captain of a nuclear submarine in an attempt to avert a disaster with the potential to incite World War III.
It’s a typical tour-de-force from Hackman, and once he was able to get over his initial entrancement and go toe-to-toe with his legendary scene partner, Washington gave every bit as good as he got in a superior submarine thriller that offers equal amounts of character drama and nail-biting tension.
