Denzel Washington Once Revealed the Movie That Physically Paralyzed Him From Stress
Denzel Washington starred in a variety of films that pushed him to his physical limit. But there was one movie he remembered needing to seek medical help for.
Denzel Washington’s directorial debut left him feeling literally numb
As excited as Washington was to make his directorial debut, he was also equally nervous. He signed on to direct his first film, the 2002 biographical drama Antwone Fisher. What he wasn’t expecting was the extreme lack of sleep he’d experience doing the project.
“It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Washington once said according to Black Film. “I was so scared. It was like once I got going, I was fine. But when I talked to other directors I was like, ‘Do you get sleep when you’re directing? Cause I didn’t get any.’ They said, no that never goes away you. You jump up in the middle of the night like, ‘Did I get that shot?’ I had a lot of fun, a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again.”
In an interview he did with The Morning Call, Washington shared the stress of making the first movie left him temporarily paralyzed.
“I was numb,” he said. “I had to go to a chiropractor. I was laying there, my legs hanging over the table, not even able to move.”
Aside from the fun he was having, what pushed Washington through the shoot was his admiration for the real Antwone Fisher.
“I promised Antwone I would take good care of him,” Washington said. “I said, ‘I know you’ve been through a lot and I promise you I won’t screw this up.’ That was my prayer every morning to God. I said, ‘Please don’t let me mess this young boy’s life up. He’s had a hard enough life as it is. It’s about the boy, let me just take care of the boy.’”
Denzel Washington didn’t want to star in the 2 films he directed
Washington fulfilled a longtime ambition of his by directing the films Antwone Fisher and The Great Debaters. He’d always been interested in getting behind the camera like another actor-turned filmmaker. So when the opportunity finally presented itself, the Oscar-winner couldn’t pass it up.
“It’s my passion. More than anything, I enjoy seeing talented people do what they do well. When you’re an actor, you come out of your trailer, do your thing, and then go back in. Directing is about collaboration—the production, the costuming, the script, the actors. I love it,” he once said in an interview with Oprah. “It brings me joy. At 52 years old, I’m blessed to be able to segue into directing. I want to be Clint Eastwood when I grow up!”
Washington also starred in both films, which he initially didn’t want to do. But the movies couldn’t have been made without the actor’s star power.
“It’s strictly business. I didn’t want to be in either film. It was strictly to get the money. Basically, the studio said: ‘If you’re not in the film, your budget is this. If you’re in the film, this is your budget,’” Washington once said according to Hollywood Chicago. “They sort of back you into a corner. They give you a budget they know you can’t make the movie for, and two or three years after you’ve been working on it, I said: ‘OK. I’ll play a small role in it.’”
Denzel Washington learned how to watch himself in movies by directing films
Despite the many movies Washington has starred in over the years, the Training Day actor never actually watched any of his performances.
“I had to learn to watch myself in movies because I don’t. I’ll watch them one time, then talk to you guys and that’s it,” he said.
But watching and directing movies at the same time meant that Washington had to change his approach to his work.
“And I had to get used to watching myself cause I knew I had to look at the monitor. And when I finally took on the job and I was looking at some films and I realized how hard a job it is and I realized how good a filmmaker Spike is and I was like ‘wow.’ You begin to really appreciate what people are doing. As an actor, you’re so busy just looking at yourself,” he said.
