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Denzel Washington on Great Debaters
By Fred Topel | Image property of TWC.
Denzel Washington has been playing a mentor figure for some time. There are good mentors like the shrink in Antwone Fisher or bad ones like Training Day. As a director, he is able to do even more for young Hollywood, casting newcomers in his latest film, The Great Debaters.
Washington Leads The Great Debaters
"I know as an actor how difficult it is to get in this position, to get the opportunity to get good parts," said Washington. "Many times, people talk about Academy Awards and this and that and I always said you can't be considered unless you have a good role. Good roles are hard to come by. So they all three of them have great roles and great opportunities."
It's not that Washington set out to create these opportunities, but it suited the film. "If the movie had been about three 70-year-olds, I don't think it would have been new actors. They might have been, but these were the roles and these were the actors that won the roles. I didn't decide to do this film because I saw a great opportunity or solely because I saw a great opportunity for young actors. I read a piece of material that interested me and that I was moved by, and these were the young people that won the parts."
The story of the Wiley College debate team gave all the actors an opportunity to learn real speech methods. "We set up a camp for the kids. I met Dr. Freeman, who's the debating coach at Texas Southern, which is one of the top debating schools in the country. I interviewed him and actually put him on film, but I asked him, 'Could we set up like a mini camp for the young actors?' And he put them through their paces."
The Great Debaters
The Great Debaters
It may seem like a big year for Washington with this and American Gangster, but it was actually more of a slow build. "I’m not moving that fast. I did American Gangster last year. They waited a year before they put it out. [This] was a four-year process. The script came across my desk, so I worked on the screenplay for a long time between jobs or when I would come back home, I'd sit with the writers. So it was a process. I might be home for four months, five months, we'd get intense work done, and he'd go off or she'd go off writing, they'd send me stuff, I got home again, I'd look at it, and then I guess I finished American Gangster November of last year. The day I finished that, a long plane ride home from Thailand, by the time I landed American Gangster was in my rear-view mirror. So I had a lot of time to work on it and then that intensified in the last four or five months. I had enough time, I didn't feel rushed. At a certain time you gotta get on with it and let the actors start to speak, put everybody in a room. We'd sit in my office and we'd talk through a scene, its weaknesses, and how do you feel about that line? I sort of play all the parts anyway. In working on the screenplay, I would stand up and read it and just shape it and mold it. Basically the process didn't finish until Tuesday when they finally took the picture from me."
The Great Debaters opens to theaters on December 25th.
For the trailer, posters and more movie info, go to The
Great Debaters Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of TWC.
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