Denzel Washington says the next Black Panther film is among the carefully curated projects on his slate.
Speaking with Australia’s Today Show amid an ongoing Gladiator II press blitz, the two-time Oscar winner was asked whether he felt any “trepidation or pressure” about joining Ridley Scott’s Paul Mescal-led sequel, which feels practically guaranteed to be a box office juggernaut. Expectedly, Washington felt no such thing. Instead, taking on the role of Macrinus is simply part of a larger strategy of strictly working with those he considers “the best” of the form.
“For me, it’s about the filmmaker, especially at this point in my career,” Washington said, as seen in the video below. “I’m only interested in working with the best. I don’t know how many more films I’m gonna make, probably not that many. I wanna do things I haven’t done.”
Expanding on this aim, Washington, 69, hinted at an eventual retirement following the completion of several projects he’s lined up, including two more takes on Othello, a character he previously took on in his early twenties.
“I’ve played Othello at 22. I’m about to play Othello at 70,” Washington told the Today team. “After that, I’m playing Hannibal. After that, I’ve been talking with Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler’s writing a part for me in the next Black Panther. After that, I’m gonna do the film Othello. After that, I’m gonna do King Lear. After that, I’m gonna retire.”
As readers will note, Washington has a special connection to the late Chadwick Boseman, who led the first Black Panther film to global success in 2018. Early into Boseman’s artistic journey, financial support for him and other acting students from Washington proved pivotal. In fact, Boseman later went as far as to say that there “would be no Black Panther without Denzel Washington.”
Gladiator II, also starring Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn, will roll into a theater near you on Nov. 22. Last month, Washington succinctly described his frame of mind while on the film’s elaborate set, thus giving us all one hell of a headline in the process. Thank you, Denzel.
