He’s one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, but two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington is thinking about retirement — and reveals he’ll be in one of Marvel’s biggest franchises before he calls it a career.
To Australia’s Today program, the star of the upcoming Gladiator II revealed Ryan Coogler is writing a role for him in the third Black Panther film — and that project will be one of his final acting jobs.
“For me it’s about the filmmakers,” Denzel says. “Especially at this point in my career, I am only interested in working with the best. I don’t know how many more films I’m going to make.” He adds, “It’s probably not that many. I want to do things I haven’t done.”
Washington mentioned how he got his start — performing Shakespeare — and how he’ll be revisiting The Bard on Broadway opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in 2025.
“I played Othello at 22. I am about to play Othello at 70. After that, I am playing Hannibal [for Netflix]. After that, I’ve been talking to Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther. After that, I’m going to do the film Othello. After that, I’m going to do King Lear. After that, I’m going to retire.”
Incidentally, it was the original Black Panther’s star, the late Chadwick Boseman, who once praised his British Academy of Acting program patron Washington by saying, “There is no Black Panther without Denzel Washington.”
“Imagine receiving a letter that your tuition … was paid for by the dopest actor on the planet,” Boseman said at an AFI Tribute to Washington that took place a little more than a year before Boseman’s untimely death from cancer in 2020.
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