MOVIE NEWS – Denzel Washington is “bitter” after losing the Oscar for best actor to Kevin Spacey…

Denzel Washington, the acclaimed actor who has appeared in everything from Fences to The Equalizer and, most recently, Gladiator II, already has two Oscars to his credit. However, the actor recently admitted that his biggest Oscar loss hit him harder than he expected. In 1999, Washington played Rubin Carter in The Hurricane, which is about a real-life boxer wrongly accused of murder. Directed by Norman Jewison, Denzel Washington’s performance was incredible and earned him a nomination for Best Actor. However, she ended up losing out to Kevin Spacey, who won for American Beauty.

Speaking to Esquire, Denzel Washington reflected on the loss, admitting he was “bitter” about the entire Oscar nomination process. “At the Oscars, they called Kevin Spacey’s name for American Beauty. I have a memory of turning around and looking at him, and nobody was standing but the people around him. And everyone else was looking at me,” said Washington. He then admitted that his memory of the exact moment was vague and faded, explaining:

“Maybe that’s the way I perceived it. Maybe I felt like everybody was looking at me. Because why would everybody be looking at me? Thinking about it now, I don’t think they were.”

Before Hurricane, Denzel Washington was nominated for his performance in Malcolm X, but lost the award to Al Pacino, who won for Scent of a Woman. The actor resented the successive defeats. He continued:

“I went through a time then when [my wife] Pauletta would watch all the Oscar movies — I told her, I don’t care about that. Hey: ‘They don’t care about me? I don’t care.’ You vote. You watch them. I am not watching that. I gave up. I got bitter. My pity party.”

Denzel Washington deserves an Oscar for Gladiator II

Denzel Washington finally won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2002 for The Training. Years earlier, in 1990, he won Best Supporting Actor for Glory. Throughout his career, Washington was nominated for nine Academy Awards for his performances. In 2024, this number may rise to ten.

Gladiator II has already been shown in European and UK cinemas and the reactions at the screenings have been quite positive.

Audiences and critics (mostly) agree that Ridley Scott’s long-awaited sequel was worth the wait. All of the cast (including Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Fred Hechinger, Joseph Quinn and Connie Nielsen) give incredible performances, but Denzel Washington is clearly the strongest.

As Rome is ruled by co-emperors Caracalla and Geta (Hechinger and Quinn), Washington plays Macrinus, a former gladiator turned slaveholder who acquires Lucius (Mescal). Macrinus is power-hungry and tries to fight his way into the Roman Senate so he can sit next to the emperors. To this end, Washington imbues Macrinus with unwavering charisma and charm. The character can quickly switch between disarmingly friendly conversation and thinly veiled threats. As a result, many already believe that Washington could get another Oscar nomination next year…

Source: Esquire