The roles Denzel Washington is too popular to play: “That’s not how Hollywood perceives me”
It’s almost impossible not to love Denzel Washington. Not only is a phenomenal actor, one of the best to grace a screen in recent years, but he’s also a dedicated family man, a patron of many charities, a proud spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Club of America, and the financier of a drama scholarship at his old university. Basically, he’s a top bloke.
His real-life hero status is heavily reflected in his on-screen roles. He’s played some amazing good guys across his career, from fictional protagonists like Robert McCall in the Equalizer franchise to historical luminaries like Herman Boone in Remember the Titans and the title character in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X. A notable exception to this rule is the character of Alonzo Harris in Training Day, a corrupt cop embroiled in Los Angeles’ drug scene.
Washington noted the lack of villains in his repertoire during an interview with Female.au whilst on the Training Day press tour. “I’ve done 30 pictures, and this is the first time I’ve played a truly evil character,” he said. “It’s not for want of trying. It’s just that no one has ever asked me to play a bad guy before. That’s not how Hollywood perceives me.”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom honouree began his movie career in 1981, garnering major attention with his role as anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko in the Richard Attenborough film Cry Freedom. Two years later, he appeared in the film Glory, in which he played a Civil War soldier fighting on the side of the Union. This is what won Washington his first Oscar. These are just some of the many heroic roles the actor played prior to Training Day, a list that also includes Lincoln Rhyme in The Bone Collector and classic Shakespearean good guy Don Pedro in the 1993 adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing.
“It’s a huge honour and privilege to play real-life heroes, but there is a different kind of excitement and reward for an actor in playing a villain,” the star confessed. “I have to admit I had a lot of fun playing Harris in Training Day… He’s a sick, sick man who has no heart. I’ve known for a while now that I’ve wanted to play someone like Harris… On the day we meet Harris, he sees two options in his life. One is death, and the other is what he sets out to accomplish. This gave me the licence to be as evil as possible.”
Whilst some actors regularly switch sides, most big names tend to get pigeonholed into what sort of roles they play. Tom Hanks is almost always the hero, while Mads Mikkelsen very rarely gets to be anything other than a sadistic monster. It’s also possible that studios were hesitant to cast such a prominent African-American actor in antagonistic roles during the early days of Washington’s career for fear of the backlash it would receive. On a more cynical note, Washington was viewed as a draw for Black audiences, and turning him heel might have hurt ticket sales amongst that particular demographic.
More than two decades after Training Day’s release, Washington still regularly plays the hero. With the notable exception of Macrinus in Gladiator II, his characters are usually uncomplicated good guys. He might enjoy getting to flex his villainous muscles, but it turns out he’s just too popular to be the baddie.
