This is your captain slurring

LOS ANGELES — Denzel Washington earned his one and only best actor Oscar for the emotionally crippled cop in Training Day. Now, Washington can add his alcoholic airline pilot in Flight to his memorably flawed list.

Opening Friday, the Robert Zemeckis film chronicles the aftermath of a commercial plane crash when an investigation into the equipment malfunction also reveals Captain Whit Whitaker (Washington) consumed drugs and alcohol before take off.

Co-starring is Kelly Reilly. She plays a recovering addict who falls for Washington’s pilot. John Goodman portrays the pilot’s buddy and his enabling dealer. Don Cheadle is the lawyer trying to defend the pilot and Bruce Greenwood is the pilot’s friend and union representative hoping to get him off the hook.

While Zemeckis is keen to present an ensemble feel to the film, there is no doubt Washington drives the story.

And in case we don’t get the significance, the opening 10 minutes underscores two things in a very excruciating way: Washington’s pilot averts a disaster and he is smashed as he does it.

Fear-of-flying folks should beware, as well: The disabled plane sequences are agonizingly detailed, and the fictional John Gatins screenplay is based on fact.

Still, Washington was mostly committed to the project because of the dialogue, and what it had to say.

“If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage,” said Washington, 57. “I read tons of scripts, and I know it’s very rare, but this is like a Eugene O’Neill play — the tears are on the page.”

Zemeckis knew Washington was one of the few actors in the business who could bring the words to life in an honest way.

As the convergence of coincidence would have it, they both became interested in the movie about the same time.

Indeed, Zemeckis had spent the last 12 years delving into the world of special effects with films, The Polar Express and Beowulf. So he was looking for a change of pace when he stumbled upon Flight. Washington completed the action flick Safe House, then responded to Flight’s emotionally intricate demands.

Signed up and raring to go, they met a few weeks before filming in Atlanta, which was their base of operations. Together, they worked out the performance arc, and by the time they started shooting they felt confident.

The director admitted, however, he was amazed by the depth of the Academy Award winner’s performance.

“It’s devoid of any vanity,” noted Zemeckis. “He showed how talented and gifted he is with this incredibly powerful screen presence.”

His latest role might even lead to another Oscar nomination.