Denzel Washington says that a handful of movies he made in the 1990s were done for money…but won’t say which.
King Kong ain’t got nothin’ on Denzel! But maybe The Bone Collector does…Denzel Washington has had one hell of a movie career, breaking out in the ‘80s and soon becoming one of the few Black actors to win an Academy Award at the time. But before he would become the first Black actor to win two Oscars, Denzel Washington had to go through some true crap. But that’s not us talking, that’s Denzel himself.
Speaking with The Times, Denzel Washington admitted that he spent a lot of the ‘90s making movies for the paycheck. “After Malcolm X I made some real clunkers. Look them up — I won’t say their names…They are all in the 1990s. But I was earning. I had responsibilities.” Denzel may not want to list any particular titles, but we can imagine the list includes The Pelican Brief, Virtuosity, Fallen, The Bone Collector, and a few others.
We all know Denzel Washington takes his craft seriously, but we also can’t blame him for doing those paycheck movies. After all, that’s kind of part of the business. “In life, you learn, earn and then you return — as in give back. So if your life is 90 years long, up until 30 you learn and from 30 to 60 you earn. So in that era I was earning. With a great agent, my career built into making money and so the earning kicked in and then life also kicked in, with bills, four kids and a house …”
It can’t be denied that Denzel Washington led plenty of bad movies in the ‘90s, but he might be acting a bit too hard on himself, as there was still plenty of strong work in the ‘90s: Philadelphia, Crimson Tide, Courage Under Fire, He Got Game, etc.
Whatever Denzel Washington thinks of certain eras of his career, one he is putting serious attention on is the current one, as he has pointed to his retirement after just a handful more movies, all of which sound like must-sees, including Spike Lee’s remake of High and Low, a collaboration with Steve McQueen and a third Black Panther, for which Denzel says Ryan Coogler specifically wrote a part for him.
What is your favorite Denzel Washington movie? What was his strongest decade?