Denzel Washington Not Bothered Over Oscars Snub for ‘Gladiators II’
Denzel Washington is no stranger to the spotlight or to being acknowledged for his acting prowess. After all, he’s been nominated two times for Best Supporting Actor (he won once for Glory in 1990) and six times for Best Actor (he won once for Training Day in 2022) by the Academy Awards.
However, fans felt slighted that he was snubbed this year for his performance in Gladiators II, a role that earned him nominations at the Golden Globe Awards and Critics Choice Awards for Best Supporting Actor.
Denzel Washington Unbothered Over Oscars Snub
In an interview with The New York Times (via The Hollywood Reporter), Washington said, “I was sitting there smiling, going: Look at you. On the day you didn’t get a nomination for an Oscar, you’re working on Othello on Broadway. Are you kidding me?” Then he joked, “Awww. Oh, I’m so upset.”
He added, “Listen, I’ve been around too long. I’m getting wiser, working on talking less and learning to understand more — and that’s exciting.”
What’s Next for Him?
Denzel Washington is set to return to the Broadway stage opposite Jake Gyllenhaal for Othello. He shared that delivering his lines became difficult because he bit his tongue a few months ago. He said, “It’s affecting my speech. It forces me to slow down … I have to use it. I have a line: ‘Whither will you that I go to answer this your charge?’ It’s hard because my tongue is swollen and I got some temporary tooth put in because my tooth fell out of my head. It has affected everything.” He thinks his tongue will not heal anymore, “It’s like I got a little flap in there now.”
Washington also said of Gyllenhall, “He’s nuts. I love him. He’s complicated. But he’s already got a handle on it. I’m not worried about that, because I don’t like to learn the lines too soon. I was telling a young actor who asked, ‘Why don’t you like to learn them too soon?’ I said: ‘Because then I’m the voice I’m listening to delivering the cues to myself. I want to hear it from you, and that’s going to affect how I say what I say.’ For me, that works.”
Washington (Othello) and Gyllenhaal (Iago) are leading the Kenny Leon-directed production that will run for a limited 15-week engagement at the Barrymore Theater in New York City. Rehearsals began on January 21.
The cast also includes Andrew Burnap as Cassio, Anthony Michael Lopez as Roderigo, Daniel Pearce as Brabantio, Kimber Elayne Sprawl as Emilia, and Molly Osborne as Desdemona.
Othello will open on March 23 and run through June 8, 2025.
