The roles Denzel Washington call his greatest also show his legacy: “I have to admit I had a lot of fun”
Ask anyone and they’ll tell you, Denzel Washington is perhaps our greatest living actor.
A stalwart performer in almost every production which has ever had the good luck to cast him, Washington’s powerful demeanour and dedication to his craft mean he isn’t just a movie star, which he most certainly is, but he is also a cultured artist.
For decades, he has been perfectly skirting the line between Hollywood’s mainstream and artistically integrous roles that shape the cultural landscape as we know it. Washington has always managed to improve the material he works with, even adding an extra impetus to his work on Hamlet, and this uniqueness is perfectly encapsulated in the movies he calls the best of his work.
Across the years, like many stars, Washington has been asked about which movies he thinks are his best. Such questions are par for the course and they are usually answered with a certain amount of simplicity. Most answers range between “I couldn’t possibly pick just one” and “whatever the next one is”. But Washington, ever the honest worker, has routinely shared the pictures he most loves from his filmography, and they showcase his legacy.
With way over 50 movies in the can, Washington is one of the more prolific professionals in his domain, and his performance levels rarely drop. But there are four which he usually shares as the truest reflection of his work. When asked during a Reddit AMA which of his movies a newcomer to his performances should watch he was quick to share: “I would suggest that they watch two. Fences and Man on Fire.”
Washington’s 2016 directorial debut, Fences, adapts August Wilson’s acclaimed play. Set in 1950s America, it explores the harsh realities of a Black man’s life amid fraught race relations, earning Washington an Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Actor’. It’s a tender performance that showcases the artist behind the movie star.
Concurrently, the legacy of Denzel Washington is also riddled with brutish moments of action brilliance. One of his defining performances came in Tony Scott’s Man on Fire. Washington brings searing intensity to ex-CIA operative Creasy, blending gunfire and grenades with themes of redemption and sacrifice. It’s action with soul, epitomising his power on screen.
A similar set-up ensues with Training Day, the movie Washington proclaimed to be his greatest performance as he took on the role of Detective Alonzo Harris, a truly corrupted cop with a penchant for devilish violence. He described the dirty cop as “an arrogant thief, liar, killer and egomaniac. He’s a sick, sick man who has no heart,” and quipped, “I’ve known for a while now that I’ve wanted to play someone like Harris!”
“There is a different kind of excitement and reward for an actor in playing a villain. I have to admit I had a lot of fun playing Harris in Training Day”, Washington explained. With all this in mind, it’s no wonder Washington told Blackfilm in 2006, “People like the bad guy. I do. I enjoyed Training Day. It was my favourite part.” The troubled cop is not just a bully and a menace but also a sincerely vulnerable figure, something Washington manages to capture with composed professionalism.
Training Day was a smash hit and showed the power Washington could bring to a movie. But another picture he considered a favourite showed his desire for artistic purity. Roman J. Israel, Esq. is certainly not Washington’s most wacthed film, but it certainly rang true for his desire to play the right kind fo role. “I’m trying to get better,” he told the Inquirer. “When I turned 60 and started to think about my career differently, I’m like, ‘This ain’t a dress rehearsal.’ I really don’t know how many years I have left on this planet, so I just want to maximise the effort and utilise the gifts I’ve been given.”
His role as the defence lawyer at a poorly run law firm isn’t exactly the first premise you think might fit Washington, but he approached the role with the same dedication he showed all his projects. “We all know people like Roman,” the actor explained. Navigating the layers of Roman’s character, the actor touched upon the dichotomy of his abilities, saying, “The thing about Roman is he can read any book with total recall… but he can’t read people.” This was a challenge he relished, ensuring he got the behaviour right while embedding enough empathy into the portrayal so that audiences would connect.
These four roles perfectly show the impressive legacy of Denzel Washington. He is an artist with a dedication to the story, a powerhouse movie star capable of carrying an action movie into a franchise, able to be an enrapturing villain with vulnerability and still willing to give himself over to the projects he loves, not just the ones that pay well. Everything about Washington can be found in these four movies, and it is a satisfying watch list to say the least.
