Recalling the films they made together, “Training Day” (2001) and a new version of “The Magnificent Seven” (2016), Ethan Hawke one day said that working with Denzel Washington was like playing baseball with Babe Ruth.
Taking advantage of his presence on his program, journalist Chris Wallace wanted to know what he meant by this comparison.
“I think, when you take stock, he’s the best actor of our generation. That experience I had in ‘The Dead Poets Club’ [com Robin Williams] I started having it every day when I acted with Denzel. His imagination is so complete,” Hawke, 53, recalled.
The analogy with Babe Ruth, he explains, arises from the “tremendous energy and reflection” that is present behind everything they create, whether as athletes or actors.
“Once you see someone working in that way it’s like entering… there are all these divisions where you can enter the profession and it was really inspiring for me to see the one I chose being carried out at this level”, he notes.
“Training Day”
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As Wallace recalled, the two were nominated for Oscars for “Training Day”, as Best Actor and Supporting Actor, but only Washington won what was the second statuette of his career, after “Temple of Glory” (1989).
The journalist wanted to know if it was true that, during the ceremony, Washington whispered to him “you better not have won” shortly after Jim Broadbent was announced as the winner for “Iris”.
“Yes. You don’t want a prize to improve your status. We want to improve the status of the prize. That’s his way of thinking. That’s what I’m talking about about playing with Babe Ruth”, he clarified.
“The Academy Award has more power because Denzel has two of them. It didn’t elevate who he was”, he argued about his colleague, currently 69 years old.
When Wallace wanted to know if, having said that, he would have liked to have won, Hawke replied: “That thing? No.”
Upon insistence, he added: “Well, I suppose so. I was at the Oscars sitting next to Denzel Washington and nominated against Ian McKellen. I had already won. It was impossible for me to see it any other way.”
THE TIME OF THE INTERVIEW.
