Denzel Washington may be one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors, but he admits that watching movies no longer interests him.
“I don’t watch movies, man. I really don’t,” Washington said during a GQ video conversation with Highest 2 Lowest director Spike Lee and co-star A$AP Rocky. “I’m just being honest with you! I don’t watch movies! I don’t go to the movies. I don’t watch movies. … I’m tired of movies. Yeah.”
When Lee asked him just how many films he has made in his career, Washington quickly replied, “Too many. I think 50!”
Washington made his screen debut in the 1981 comedy Carbon Copy and has since acted in more than 50 films. Over the decades, he has earned two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Glory (1989) and Best Actor for Training Day (2001).
His newest role is in Highest 2 Lowest, where he plays a powerful music mogul caught in a ransom scheme that forces him into a life-or-death decision. The film is currently in select theatres and will arrive on Apple TV+ on September 5.
Though critics continue to praise his work, Washington insists accolades are never his motivation. “I don’t do it for Oscars,” he said on the Aug. 11 episode of Jake’s Takes. “I don’t care about that kind of stuff. I’ve been at this a long time, and there’s been times when I won and shouldn’t have won and then didn’t win and should’ve won. Man gives the award. God gives the reward.”
He went on to emphasise that trophies mean little in the bigger picture. “People ask me, ‘Where do I keep it?’ Well, next to the other one. I’m not bragging! Just telling you how I feel about it. On my last day, [Oscars] aren’t going to do me a bit of good.”
When interviewer Jake Hamilton noted that God doesn’t ask, “How many Oscars do you have?” Washington quipped back, “He [God] might go, ‘That’s why I gave you an extra week.’ [As] long as he says, ‘Now, get on up here,’ I’m all right.”