Washington avoids conflict
Star of action-packed Equalizer 2, his first sequel, says he can smell ‘nonsense’
Denzel Washington is not above a green juice. On a hot summer afternoon, Washington, rather jolly today and clad casually in all black, is puzzling over the customizable cold-pressed menu at the Four Seasons Hotel. His day will end with the première for his first sequel, The Equalizer 2 (in theatres now), but right now the two-time Oscar winner is debating what to blend with ginger and pineapple.
“It wasn’t like: ‘Oh, I need a franchise,’ ” says Washington, 63, explaining why he chose to resume the role of ex-CIA vigilante Robert McCall in the followup to 2014’s The Equalizer.
“I haven’t needed one up to now. What do I need one for? And I’ve been asked. Like, they wanted to do a prequel to Safe House. And they wanted to do an Inside Man 2. But it didn’t make sense to me.”
But the bombastic Equalizer 2 did, which finds his quiet, violence-prone hero attempting to stay under the radar as a Lyft driver — until his beloved friend is murdered.
Not that Washington was overly familiar with the ridesharing enterprise.
“I’ve never taken a Lyft in my life,” says the actor, who took an educational ride before cameras rolled. “I have my own car, why would I need a Lyft?” He shrugs, noting that he doesn’t drink. “That’s a generational thing.”
He sees skepticism. “It’s not?” Washington laughs. “You see some 60-year-old guys stumbling into their Lyft car?”
The first Equalizer grossed $101 million US on a budget half that size, with audiences cheering on Washington’s everyman, who brings bloody justice upon those assailing the weak.
Washington likens the character’s popularity to “good therapy, from what I’m hearing. You need somebody to go kick everybody’s butt. Don’t you go to the movies to forget sometimes and have a good time?”
Equalizer 2 provides a fantastical (and air-conditioned) reprieve from an unyielding news cycle of political turmoil.
Washington’s tonic for the headlines? “November,” he says, with a deep laugh and a clap. “I’m not telling people how to vote, but November’s coming.”
Today, the actor is well aware that the weapon-laden Equalizer 2 is hitting theatres in the midst of a heated debate about gun control. He calls the recent spate of fatal shootings in Parkland, Florida; Annapolis, Maryland; and Las Vegas “frightening.”
But Washington deems the effect of entertainment on its audience “a complicated subject. What’s more violent than the news?” he asks. “It’s not simple, as if we just stop [making violent movies], everything will be fine. Come on, now. That’s just not the case.”
In Equalizer 2, Washington silences adversaries with his fists. In his own life, Washington insists he doesn’t experience conflict (“Define conflict,” he counters) — even while making movies in Hollywood. “I grew up on the streets of New York, I can smell nonsense,” he says.
The revered actor’s circle remains tight: He employs an agent, a lawyer and a publicist.
“I tell young people, even actors coming up, you always have the option to say no,” he says. “If you don’t feel comfortable, you can get up and leave. You don’t have to do anything to get a job and you shouldn’t be made to feel that way.”
An ill-fated kale/lemon/pineapple/ginger juice arrives. “Salud!” says Washington, taking a slug of the bitter green mixture. “Woo!” he shudders.
Summer is ending on a sweeter note: Washington’s son, former Rams player-turned-actor John David Washington, is earning praise for his star turn in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman.
“He’s a good kid, too,” says Washington, adding that he and his wife of 35 years, Pauletta, are proud of all four children. “They’re all doing well,” he says. “But it’s weird, as a father, it’s like, man, he’s taken off.”