Denzel Washington’s Character in ‘Philadelphia’ Was Inspired by These Celebrity Lawyers
Actor Denzel Washington famously collaborated with Tom Hanks for the critically and commercially successful Philadelphia. Washington pulled from many sources to inspire his character, including from a few famous lawyers.
How Denzel Washington created his ‘Philadelphia’ character
Washington put a lot of thought in his Philadelphia performance with Hanks. He played attorney Joe Miller, who’d end up defending Hanks’ character after the latter was fired for being gay and having AIDs.
The Oscar-winner did what he’s used to doing for movie roles and dove head first into research.
“The acting coach Stanislavsky talks about cutting 90 percent. So you do research, research, research, then you drop it and listen when you’re in the scene and know who you are,” Washington once told Cigar Aficionado. “You never know how it’s gonna come around. That’s why you go out there and find out. It’s because you need the human beings that hook you into the character. Maybe I’m not as imaginative as the average actor. I need some kind of a hook sometimes.”
Washington asserted that he met and took cues from several high-profile celebrities. One of them was lawyer Johnny Cochran, who shot to fame after defending O.J. Simpson. He also met with Carl Douglas, who was another lawyer known for defending celebrities. He, too, was on the defense team for Simpson’s famous trial.
“I learned some things from Carl Douglas that I used in the film,” Washington said. “Like when you have a friendly witness, you would stand over by the jury so that the witness’s eyes were making contact with the jury. With an unfriendly witness, you’d go far across the other side to direct the eyes away from the jury. Or you’re wearing clothes that draw attention to yourself on days when you know you were going to have an unfriendly witness. Upsetting the court and all kinds of tactics on how to just get them laughing. Getting the judge on your side.”
How Denzel Washington was cast in ‘Philadelphia’
Washington initially wasn’t thought of to play the lawyer in Philadelphia. Instead, the film’s director Jonathan Demme wanted a comedian in the role. The feature was going to deal with some heavy subject matter, and Demme thought a comic would be perfect to add some levity to its story.
“The part that Denzel Washington played was written very much in the hope of attracting someone like Robin Williams or Bill Murray, someone with a comedic profile,” Demme once said according to Jonathan Demme: Interviews. “We understood what we were up against in getting an audience for a movie about AIDS so we thought that if we could get someone who could send a funny signal – and this character would certainly be amusing – that would be a step in the right direction.”
But Demme asserted a random plane ride would change everything. One of the film’s producers was riding a plane with Washington, and showed Washington the script.
“He read the script and called up and said he wanted to play the part of Joe Miller, which really thrilled me. Denzel is obviously one of the great American actors, and the idea of casting a black man in that part was fantastic,” Demme said.
But before casting the Training Day star, Demme wondered if the script needed to be a bit more tailored to fit the actor.
“I got on the phone with Denzel and said that I was very excited by his interest but that we’d really envisaged a comedian playing the part, and he said, ‘Jonathan, I’m hilarious!’ And I said, ‘This character was written picturing a white man, do you think we have to do any work on this script if we choose to cast you in this movie about prejudice and what have you?’ And he said, ‘Do you?’ And I heard myself say, ‘No,’ and he said, ‘Good, I don’t either,'” Demme remembered.
