Nadia Jae chats to THE Denzel Washington

One extra breakfast with Nadia J. All right. We have been bantering off air, but today we honor a trailblazer, a national treasure, someone that I honestly put your name in the group chat. And my aunties and my uncles and my sister and everyone was like, oh, my gosh, they're so excited to have you here as a we. We're talking to Academy Award wins. We're talking three gold with Golden Globes, a Tony Award, not to mention Denzel. I mean, how is it tiring to be so that guy that everyone just for decades? You've been someone that's almost like a sex symbol. Like, are you not tired? I'm not that guy. I'm an ordinary guy with an extraordinary job. I don't look at it the other way around. It's not like I walk around and like, oh, yes, I mean, just talk about me, please. And nobody's in the room. Fair. Guys, I mean, I've already said his name is a spoiler, but can we make some noise for Denzel Washington? How so humble is or how are you? Excellent. Amazing. All right. We're going to talk about this fantastic film. We're also going to talk about you, your legacy. We're going to try and play some music that represents you. I think I'll start with we watched Gladiator yesterday. So we had a gladiator, too. We watched it. And I mean, Denzel, you are main character. I could not stop watching you. You're so like I feel like the storyline. I was so like I wanted to know everything about you and your character. So I want to know because you're super particular about what roles you take. I'm not super particular. No. In this case, it was. Well, yes, I say yes. Well, I say no more than I say yes. But in this case is Ridley Scott. And he called and I said, yes, as you know, we had great success together with American Gangster. And he called me up, told me what he was doing and gave me the idea of what he wanted me to do. And I said, yes. Yeah. So you hadn't seen the script. Obviously, I really don't I I don't think I read it before he called, but I'm not sure. OK, you must be at that stage where it's like you're not reading scripts and auditioning, right? It's been about 40 years for that love. About 40 years. Yeah, I haven't I haven't auditioned for a movie in. I don't know if it's 40. Exactly. I won an Academy Award in 1989. How many years ago is that? So that would be thirty five. I'm sure nobody asked me to audition after that. That's crazy. I may be wrong. I may be wrong. I mean, do you miss that auditioning? Yeah. No, I'm just I'm just checking. I'm just checking. Wowza. OK, I want to continue and talk about you getting into movies because the stories about you and, you know, I've watched interviews of you and you talk about the fact that even in your household, you come from a very Christian household and movies wasn't even something you would be watching regularly, right? No, no. King of Kings, Ten Commandments, Wizard of Oz. That's it. That's about it. So what made you want to be an actor? Because nothing made me want to be an actor. I was studying to be a doctor. Yeah, that wasn't that lasted about a week. I was like, maybe I was an actor then. I thought I was going to act like a doctor. But acting sort of chose me. I I used to do a lot of work with children. So I was working at a YMCA camp and we put on a little skit the counselors did for the kids. And I got up there and I remember this guy, Miles Joyce, when I came off the stage and I had already flunked out of college. Let me preface it with that. So I tried everything else. And he said, man, you that was like you ever thought about like being an actor? I was like, no. He said, you should think about it. So within the university, Fordham University, I transferred down to the Lincoln Center campus. They had the theater program and I did a musical, found out I couldn't sing. Amazing. I've done that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's quite disappointing. Yeah. But the girls were in the musical. So I was like, do you remember what musical it was? It was it was a combination. It was it was terrible. Like a medley. Yeah. Of songs of I forgot who. I couldn't see any. I forgot who it was. It was it was a Carl Sandburg. It was like based on Carl Sandburg. Awful. OK. I was awful. Well, at least you knew your limitations. So college, you were like, no, this ain't for me. I don't want to be a I can't be a doctor. Can't sing. Acting chose you. Like you said, the the the the the head of the theater department at Fordham always wanted to do The Emperor Jones and he wanted to do Othello, but he didn't have the actors. So the second after the musical, the first role I played was Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones. I played the lead in a college production. And then the second role I played was Othello at like 20 years old. And people are like, man, you really have a gift. And I'm like, no, I think I found it. I love that it found you. Are there any roles that you would like to play that you never have? I'm revisiting Othello 50 years later. Amazing. In January, I start there. You said roles that you said that you haven't played before, because I'll be honest, I've watched Marvel and DC and I'm like Denzel should have just been a character with a cape. You and Cape seem to look quite great. I don't want to. I've been I shouldn't say, but I've been talking to someone who has made one of those. I'm on to something. And he's and he's he looks like me in color. And that's all I'll say. OK, that's good enough for me. I will, actually, because I'm talking about Gladiator 2 again. I think one of the most amazing things about the film is that, honestly, seeing you like kick ass in a cape was like an address. A dress with lots of capes. I can barely like I'm out of breath watching you, to be honest with you. I'm not that old, but I just the stamina is just not there. I wanted to know, what are you doing to keep in shape? I was at the Academy Awards. I think it was three years ago, two years ago, whatever it was for the last 22 months. I've been training with a guy named Dodd Romero, who trained Lenny Kravitz. He's got Lenny looking like Lenny. We got J-Lo. He trains Jennifer Lopez and he makes all my meals. And I've lost about 75 pounds over the 22 months. But I put on or he says I put on about 15, whatever it is, pounds of muscle. And it's just lifestyle. I mean, I don't drink or smoke anyway. So, you know, but Häagen-Dazs ice cream was a close friend of mine. Did you have to get rid? Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, moderation is the key. I won't say never, but, you know, I'm liking the results. So something you wanted to tell us, Denzel, that some people might not know about your son's relationship with Kendrick Lamar. You were just saying about the video. Malcolm has directed his brother, John David, in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. And you got to see it. It's really, really, really good. And in fact, it is my other daughter, Katya, was one of the producers. So, you know, you family, you family flex on us. All right. Big up the Washingtons. I want to talk about the time that you got offered Brad Pitt's role in Seven. You turned it down, right? Yeah. Yeah. Stupid of me, wasn't it? Well, actually, I was going to say, because there is discernment when it comes to being in the industry. And I think you being of Christian faith and I have turned down jobs, too. That felt a bit sideways or, you know, looked at Instagram pages and things and thought, this isn't a bit of me. My son also models and actually he turned down a job the other day and he was like, looks a bit demonic. I don't want to do that. So what would you say about being Christian, having your faith and trying to kind of work that around this industry? Where he leads me, I will follow. And sometimes it's in the valley, you know, like this role. The wages of sin is death. There's no point in worrying about or thinking that it doesn't exist. You know, it's interesting that a role like this is celebrated. You know, we're at the doorstep, you know, pick a side. I know where I am and I know where I'm going. So I'm not worrying about what I'm doing. I know who leads me and I know and I listen to who leads me. I was on a yacht. You're a Christian woman, right? On a boat, listening to music, praying. And there was a song on called The Face of God. And I said, Lord, in my prayer, I said, Lord, you know, everybody's singing about the face of God. They can see your face and I want to see your face. And while I was saying I want to see your face, I heard turn to your left. I turned to my left. I picked up on my phone and I went. I didn't turn to my left and look around. I just heard turn to your left. What was the picture? Oh, my. Sorry, guys, for those that you can't see. It is literally a blue sky and it looks like wings. Well, and it looks like a nose. A nose. It was the eyes. Hang on. And he's like, that is a there's a nose, there's lips. And is he wearing shades? Well, the Bible says we will see like through a mirror darkly. But then face to face. So now it says we will see like through a mirror darkly. But then face to face. Now, what you don't realize looking at that is that it seemed to be about a mile wide. Yeah, because it was huge. You could see the edge of the boat. You see the rail of the boat on the court. That's massive. Yeah. So some people say, oh, it's just some clouds. No, no, no, no, no. My point being, while I was asking. Wow. That's what I heard. While I was asking, I said, Lord, I want to turn to your left. All right. I love. First of all, I love that you had your phone. Second of all, I love that that that that looks like shades and a smirk to me. And a nose and a nose like. And I always say this about about when I'm praying or if I'm having to be conversations with God, that God's got banter. Like I say, he's got banter for days. Like I will be having a giggle and my son will be like, we don't know. God's got bands. He's got bands. Thank you for sharing. I appreciate it. Wow. What a picture. OK, I want to talk to you about your role as you're like a big brother and a father figure outside of your family, obviously. And, you know, there was a story that I'd read about what you'd done for Chadwick Boseman and, you know, that he couldn't afford to attend academy school. And you are so important. You know, we've seen that. We've seen you, you know, in that moment with Will Smith. And you go to talk to him. What how important is that for you? And did you have that when you start? I love helping people. Nothing I love more. You know, I, I, I love helping people. I've always been that way. You know, the first part of your life, you learn. The second part, you earn. Sorry, where's that part? Is it the third part? You return. OK. You know, you give back, you know, and you return or up or down or you return. So you're still in the learning slash learning. And stop. Yes, that means you still in the learning. Now, I mean, today's a good day to learn a few things. But you already know those things like to stay humble, you know, and to to to to honor and love your parents. Try to leave the world better than you found it. The movies are the least of what I do. It's not that important to me. I'll show you something else. When I was about to, but no, I had flunked out of college. And I was in my mother's beauty shop, beauty parlor. And a woman was looking in the mirror. Every time I looked up, she was looking at me. And she said, Miss Washington, give me a give me a give me a pen and a piece of paper. She said, boy, she says she's having a prophecy. She said, boy, you're going to travel the world and preach to millions of people. If you see this says twenty nineteen seventy five. I've had that took a picture of it. It was an envelope. My mother wrote it on and I kept the envelope and it got so raggedy. I just took a picture of it. And Miss Ruth, her name was Ruth Ruth Green. So she said, you're going to travel the world and preach to millions of people. And I'm thinking like, oh, I flunked out of college. You know, I'm like, yeah, yeah. Am I even going to get back in college? Nineteen seventy five. Yeah. So when my when my when the woman left, I asked my mother, I said, my who is that? She she said is Miss Ruth Green. She's one of the oldest members of the church in town. And she's known to have the gift of prophecy. And I remember thinking, I'm wondering if she can prophesy about me getting back in school. Yeah. She didn't say anything about being famous or becoming an actor or any of that. That was March twenty seventh. That summer I started acting that fall. And well, the rest is history. But that's not what I was put here to do. What we've been talking about is what I've been put here to do. That was the platform which she prophesied. Now someone can say, oh, that's just a coincidence. That's a coincidence. What I saw in the sky is a coincidence where I am in life is a coincidence. And I'm not talking about the fame because that's not important to me. You know, people have heard me say you'll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse. You can't take it with you. But young people, you can leave it here. Your gifts, your knowledge, your example. You know, you guys have a great opportunity. Young, beautiful, healthy, strong. Not you. Hey, get out of here. Well, you know, you work with him. He's a he's a he's a he's a work in progress. We all are. Oh, my gosh. Make some noise for Denzel Washington. One extra breakfast with Nadia J.