Ethan Hawke Was the Only Actor Who Denzel Washington Didn’t ‘Drown’ During ‘Training Day’ Auditions
Actor Ethan Hawke collaborated with filmmaker Antoine Fuqua for the first time for the hit film Training Day. Fuqua had faith in Hawke, but was only completely sold on the star after seeing him stand toe to toe with Washington.
Antoine Fuqua once shared Ethan Hawke was the only actor who could hang with Denzel Washington’s performance
It may seem difficult to think about now, but Hawke wasn’t the first actor considered to star opposite Washington in Training Day. Fuqua had screened quite a few actors for the role. But ultimately, playing the morally strong police officer took some work on the director’s part.
“It was hard finding someone to play Jake because I needed a real actor, I needed someone with some depth that could really act,” Fuqua once told Ain’t It Cool News. “I test screened about 15 people. Some of them were just cover boys, some were really talented, but they would drown next to Denzel.”
Fuqua wasn’t even looking for Hawke when he stumbled onto the actor. He just happened to come across the star on TV.
“I was watching Jay Leno, I think, with my wife and I saw Ethan come on promoting, I think it was Hamlet. And I was like, That’s the f***ing guy, because he could really act, because he was tough enough but not trying to be tough. And he looked like sort of a man-child to me. He’s just about to be a man, because he’s still vulnerable and you still like him, because you have to care about the guy,” Fuqua said.
Still, Hawke had a few detractors despite Fuqua’s endorsement.
“And when I saw Ethan, I said, ‘That’s the guy,’” Fuqua recalled. “Everybody was like, ‘Ethan Hawke in the hood? Ethan Hawke in the ghetto?’”
But Hawke would later prove his worth after screentesting with Washington.
“As soon as he did it, it was like, ‘That’s him.’ Because seeing is believing and nobody would believe it until they saw it. He didn’t drown; he stood his ground,” Fuqua said.
Ethan Hawke thought Denzel Washington sabotaged his ‘Training Day’ audition
Hawke felt working alongside Washington was a dream come true. The Predestination star had been a fan of Washington since his childhood years.
“You know, I remember I saw him in St. Elsewhere and stuff, and that was okay, but I remember seeing Cry Freedom, and being like, who is this person? And then I just kind of watched everything that he did, and there’s very few people who are genuine movie starts who can really act in a way that I find just mesmerizing,” Hawke said in a resurfaced interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Hawke had the opportunity to work alongside someone he idolized after Fuqua tested him for Training Day. But the actor was caught off guard when Washington went off script during the audition.
“And I did this test and Denzel went totally off book during my test,” he said. “And I walked out debating about whether to go back in and tell them all to go to hell because you know I felt like I had been sabotaged because we didn’t do anything that was on the page. And I didn’t think that was fair because he had the part.”
Fortunately, Hawke received the good news before he did anything too rash.
“I was in LA, I was sitting outside about to-I was thinking about going in and telling them to just go to hell. And then I got the call saying yeah, they — it went great, they want you. I was like, ‘Oh, they did? I love them. They were amazing,’” Hawke recalled.
Ethan Hawke didn’t consider Denzel Washington easy to work with
Hawke asserted that he perhaps didn’t have the easiest time with Washington while on set. But Hawke felt that way about most veteran actors and artists who’d mastered their craft.
“I wouldn’t say that any of the best people I’ve worked with are easy to work with. I mean easy is really not very interesting. Julie Delpy’s not easy to work with. Denzel’s not easy. Robert De Niro’s not easy to work with. Richard Linklater’s not easy to work with, you know. I would be-you could never achieve the level of success that he has if he was easy to work with,” Hawke added.
