Denzel Washington wants to be in a Christopher Nolan movie. The Hollywood star is consistently ranked among the best actors of his generation, having been nominated for nine Academy Awards throughout his career and winning two: Best Supporting Actor for 1989's Glory and Best Actor for 2001's Training Day. He currently stars in the Shakespeare adaptation The Tragedy of Macbeth from director Joel Coen, which dropped on Apple TV+ on January 14 after a limited theatrical run.
As is fitting for an actor of his stature at this point in his career, Washington has a great deal of control over which projects he works on, as well as who he works with. This latest outing, one of many brushes with the Bard on both screen and stage, pairs him with Coen, who for the first time is making a film without his brother, Ethan. He has also become more of a force behind the camera in recent years, committing to producing adaptations of August Wilson's plays, which has so far yielded Fences (which he also directed and starred in) and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
Now, however, Washington has his eye on a collaboration with one of today's most popular filmmakers. While discussing Tenet, which stars the actor's son, John David Washington, Kevin McCarthy asks him if he would ever consider working with Nolan in the future. In response, Washington leans toward the camera and sends the director a simple message:
Chris, call me. Call me, Chris... I'd love to work with Christopher Nolan, are you kidding me?
Washington then confirms with his interviewer that Nolan's next project is Oppenheimer, a biopic centered on the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his key role in the development of nuclear weapons. The film will be Nolan's first with Universal after the director's intense displeasure at Warner Bros.' HBO Max-release strategy encouraged him to sever his long creative relationship with the studio. Frequent collaborator Cillian Murphy will star in the title role, while the rest of the cast currently includes Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, and Benny Safdie.
The prospect of a future team-up between Washington and Nolan will surely excite fans of both creatives, as the union of the former's charisma with the latter's sense of scale could yield a uniquely engrossing final product. While Oppenheimer still seems to be accumulating its cast, if Washington were to join the film, it would likely be in a small supporting role, and the actor would surely be better served by something more substantial. Still, audiences will be eager to see if anything comes of The Tragedy of Macbeth star putting this out into the world.
Source: Kevin McCarthy
