We know King Kong ain’t got nothin’ on Denzel Washington, but he takes it to the next level in The Book of Eli. As the title character, he kicks ass in the post-apocalyptic wasteland, making sure his precious book doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. He owns a roundtable too, making sure nobody can spin the film any way he doesn’t approve of.
Q: What made you want to be a producer on this as well?
Denzel Washington: Well, I don't know how it got to me being the producer but I knew that there was a lot of work to be done on the script and I knew that I needed to help do it. I can’t tell you why because I really don’t remember. I can’t say, “Oh, it was one thing.” But I just felt like I needed to be a little more hands on on this one.
Q: Do you see parallels between Eli and your other character, a free character choosing his path? Did you draw anything personally?
Denzel Washington: I’m sure, yeah. We did a lot of work, a lot of sessions with Allen and myself and my son and the writer. I walked through a lot, page by page, we did a lot of rewrites. I’m sure a lot of that has to do with my own personal experiences. I couldn’t give you one off the top of my head but coming off of directing and I know how to work as a director, I really want to flesh out and flush out the characters and I play all the parts. One day in one of the sessions, I just came up with the idea of Gary’s character saying, “Pray for me.” I mean it, that wasn’t in the original script but it just made sense to me, that this guy at that moment when it seems like he’s got everything and he’s the most evil or whatever you want to call him, he says, “Pray for me.” Does that make him more twisted? It just felt right that “oh yeah, by the way, between you and me, put in a word. I know I’m no good, but you know…”
Q: What was it like working with Gary Oldman?
Denzel Washington: I love working with Gary. Gary’s one of the best. We had a lot of fun. Sometimes we would do the whole scene as very British sort of, “Well, sir. I’ll need that book from you now.” “Are you going to shoot me today?” That kind of stuff, but obviously he’s one of the best of his generation, of our generation, so it was a real joy when he signed on. I was really excited about that.
Q: Did you influence the music Eli listens to?
Denzel Washington: Oh, Al Green. That was Allen Hughes’s call I think. No, that one wasn’t mine. In fact my son had picked Incubus. If you ever see the movie again, my head is bopping to a different beat than the music because we were actually playing a song from Incubus.
Q: Do you still practice the martial arts?
Denzel Washington: No, of course not. As I rub my knee, there’s a part of me that definitely wants to continue, but then there’s the actor part that also says, “Okay, I’ve got to put that down. I’m not that guy now. I have to play another guy.” I think I’ve been in a hotel almost 10 months this year, so I’m just glad to be here a week.
Q: Did you get any injuries?
Denzel Washington: Nothing major, no.
