USA WEEKEND Exclusive: The Book of Eli: Denzel Washington stars in the new movie, Book of Eli, and USA WEEKEND has this exclusive clip from the movie to share!
The details on Denzel
Childhood job: He swept hair at a local barbershop.
"Married" twice: He and wife Pauletta Pearson renewed their vows in 1995, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu officiating.
Box-office booty: His movies have grossed $1.66 billion total.
Hits: 2007's "American Gangster" was his biggest, earning $130 million.
Misses: He turned down the role played by Brad Pitt in the 1995 hit thriller "Seven. "
Kudos: He has been nominated for five Oscars and has won two, for "Training Day" (2001) and "Glory" (1989).
Broadway-bound: He'll star this spring in the August Wilson play "Fences."
"I feel an obligation to entertain folks because it's rough out there."
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Even dressed down in black sweats, a Windbreaker and a New York Yankees cap, it's hard to hide when you're Denzel Washington. As he struts into a swanky Beverly Hills hotel bar, the star is instantly recognizable to everyone there. Indeed, he's a guy who was known only by his first name before being known by just your first name was cool.
Amazingly, it was only a few months ago that Washington learned what that famous appellation means. Playing armchair detective, the two-time Oscar winner ran his ID through an etymology search engine. Because he shares his father's name, he already knew the schmaltzy family story about how his dad was named after the physician who delivered him, Dr. Denzel. But no one ever explained the odd word itself.
When the website returned an answer, the actor was taken aback. "It turns out to be a British word that means 'fort,' " he says, incredulous, his expressive eyes beaming with genuine astonishment. "I never knew that."
Known to pals simply as "D," Washington is defined widely in yet another way: as America's favorite actor, an accolade he has won three years running in a national Harris poll.
Next Friday, he hits the big screen in "The Book of Eli," a post-apocalyptic tale in which he portrays a noble but butt-kicking nomad who roams the scorched Earth carrying a long-forgotten religious text. A bit of a downer, no?
"When I signed up for the film, the world wasn't quite headed in the direction it is now," Washington says. Still, "I thought it was a fascinating story and dug the guy's spiritual journey." Not to mention the reported $20 million a movie the actor typically commands.
Asked if he finds doing uplifting, even messianic roles like Eli difficult, he shoots a smart-alecky stare. "Well, it's a movie," he says, chuckling. "It's what I'm trained to do -- you take a part, you interpret it. It's not me! I don't look at it like, 'Oh, this is such a noble character.' ... I wouldn't even know how to do that."
More than ever, though, Washington says he feels a sense of obligation -- of purpose, even -- doing what he does best: offering a sense of dignity and hope, even if it's in a doomed sci-fi world.
"Having recently been in states with high unemployment, I feel -- more than ever before -- an obligation to entertain folks because it's rough out there," he explains, ticking off the recent schedule for his next movie, a runaway-train thriller called "Unstoppable," that filmed in Bradford, Penn., Canton, Ohio, and Wheeling, W.Va. -- what he calls "real America." "People are looking for something bigger than they are. They have a greater need to escape and fantasize."
Clearly, the actor is moved.
"Folks are struggling all over the place," he continues. "People are out of work. These giant factories are empty. In one location, we needed 50 extras and 2,000 men showed up."
Still, he adds: "The best part of my work is that I get to venture into all of these different places. I'll be a sword master one day, a railroad engineer the next. What a life. And I'm appreciating it even more now. Maybe that's why I feel the way I do."
Indeed, Washington, 55, has spent his career on the road. He credits his wife of 26 years, Pauletta, with giving their four children stability at home "while I flew to five different places at the same time."
He says she provided the "consistency" of parenting and "a normal life. ... They didn't know if I was going to the 7-Eleven or to Istanbul." Albert Hughes, who directed "The Book of Eli" with his twin brother, Allen, describes Denzel as a "very detailed, 'Cosby Show' kind of father." Adds Washington's friend and longtime collaborator, director Spike Lee: "Whenever his daughter gives a performance or his son plays a game, he's right there with Pauletta, giving them all the love and support they need."
Perhaps part of the actor's newfound sense of purpose is the fact that the days of rushing home to attend his kids' recitals are over. The Washingtons are newly minted empty nesters: Twins Malcolm and Olivia just started college; daughter Katia is finishing up at Yale; and son John David, a running back with the United Football League, is starting out in the film business. A co-producer on "The Book of Eli," John David proudly explains how he steered his old man toward playing the gritty role in "Training Day" that landed his dad the Oscar for best actor in 2002.
"No one had ever seen my father that edgy before," he says. "But I knew my pop's talent." He also knew from experience how his father could channel his dark side. "I was scared of whuppings as a kid," he says, laughing now and citing both his parents' histories in which "their folks were strict on them. There was a certain way of raising a child, and they followed suit."
The odds had been stacked against this kid from a broken home in a tough neighborhood in Mount Vernon, N.Y. Thanks to his mother's close oversight and his early involvement with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America -- he remains commited to the charity as its spokesman and major donor -- he graduated from Fordham University, with a degree in journalism. Washington went on to play many of history's most compelling African Americans, from civil rights leaders Steve Biko to Malcolm X, capturing, says "Time" magazine's Richard Corliss, the "sweet-angry contradictions" of the real-life men. Says director Lee, who first teamed with the actor two decades ago: "D has always been a huge star. It just took a while for the world to catch up." Today, Washington also enjoys a flourishing second career as a director, with his two initial efforts, "Antwone Fisher" and "The Great Debaters," both well-received.
So what lies ahead? "I'm a work in progress, like everybody else," he replies, when asked what it's like to fit in his famous skin. "I'm just an ordinary guy with a great job. And, like any human being, I'm constantly trying to improve."
Cover photo: Henry Leutwyler, August
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