Comic book Resources has a interview with Denzel Washington on his his new film “Book of Eli” opening January 16th. Here’s a few excerpts.
When asked how Eli was different from roles he has taken on in the past, Washington replied, “Most of the characters I play, there’s been some kind of evolution – spiritual evolution. Even Malcolm X, who went from hatred to a complete different doctrine.” The personal journey of the character is key to the decisions Washington has made in his choice of characters over his career. “Even something as dark as ‘Training Day,’ the first thing I wrote on my script was, ‘the wages of sin is death.’ So, in the original version of ‘Training Day,’ they had him dying in the smallest way – you heard about it on TV. I said no. In order for me to justify living in the worst way, I had to die in the worst way. So there was still, in my mind, a lesson to be learned or an evolution.” He continued this line of thinking by moving on to discuss “Man on Fire.” “Same thing; a very dark man meets this young angel who awakens him and he gives his life for her.”
From there, Washington made the connection to Eli. “He has this mission, and this mission has turned him into this violent killing machine. There’s coincidence that, at the moment when he’s about to chop whoever with this hatchet, this axe, this young girl says ‘Stop.’ Why was he sent through this town right before he makes it to where he’s supposed to go? He could’ve gone around and it [would have] been a whole different story, but in his spiritual evolution, this was a part of the process. He had to go down through the valley of the shadow of death.
Denzel Washington to star in the “The Book of Eli”, directed by Hughes Brothers
Posted under Movies
This post was written by Lobo on January 11, 2010
