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TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX - " Man on Fire " Movie
Interview with Denzel
Washington
Q:
I have to say, I think this is your most emotionally
resonant performance I think you’ve ever delivered.
WASHINGTON:
You know, I’ve got to look at this movie again,
because I’m hearing that. I didn’t think
that. I’ve got to really look at it, you know,
because maybe I finally learned something about understating,
underplaying, cause I didn’t feel that. It doesn’t
feel that way to me. I when I saw it, I was affected
by it, and I mean I’m not saying affected by
my performance, but you know, when that girl starts
coming over the bridge it’s like, “oh
man,” it’s kind of emotional.
Q:
There’s something in your eyes, you feel the
deadness that Creasy’s feeling. And when he
sparks to life, you feel that just as powerfully.
WASHINGTON:
I think that this film was closer to me in some ways.
We all struggle with whatever we struggle with. We
all have our demons, so maybe it was easier for me
to think about that as it relates to me personally,
you know, and say, “hey, I have this in common
with that character or that,” we are all struggling
with something in life, or trying to get better or
more spiritually strong, or whatever your struggle
is. This guy had a tremendous amount of guilt and
depression about his job and it led him to drink and
led him to this darker and darker place. I haven’t
been to the depths he’d been to but, but I can
relate.
Q:
What’s the most liberating aspect for an actor
when you get a role that’s this layered and
this complex?
WASHINGTON:
Mmm, hopefully that, days like today when you find
out you’ve accomplished what you set out to
do and that people say things like you just said.
And sometimes you don’t even know that that’s
what your doing, but it affects someone in a way,
it’s like when people ask you, “well what
do you want people to bring—to get from this
film?” Well I always say it depends on what
they bring to it, you know, I can’t say what
the experience should be for you, you lay it out there
and you do your best, and you serve the material,
and you pray.
Q:
You and Dakota Fanning together really give this film
a huge emotional pulse. How is it working with her?
WASHINGTON:
She’s a she’s a hoot. She’s a character,
you know? And she’s a spirit, a very powerful
spirit. And in such a young little body and she’s
very bright and honest as a human being and as an
actor. And it’s refreshing, you know? You hear
about, “oh don’t work with children and
animals,” whatever, but she’s not a child.
She’s a young person, yes, but she’s very
mature.
Q:
How do you think the city affects the overall production
as a whole?
WASHINGTON:
I mean you can’t create or you can’t imagine
what you get just from walking around, you know? Like
we shot in one of these big squares and they got the
flea market that goes on over the weekend and the
museum’s right over there and the mariachis
are all looking for jobs over there on the corner
and you can’t imagine that. The impact that
it has on you. I mean, I would get with my guys and
try to sneak away from the security guys sometimes,
and just take walks, you know, and just feel the people
and, just the fact that it’s soak—that
it’s twenty seven million people in this small
place. Like we film in Los Arcos, which has, I don’t
know, two or three million people within the city,
it’s a city unto it’s self and so it’s
just always better when you go to a location, I think.
Q:
What elevates “MAN ON FIRE” from other
films currently out?
WASHINGTON:
I think the spiritual, hopefully, you know? That was
a big part of it for me, I mean, after reading the
material and sitting down with Tony, one of the first
things I did was bring him a couple of chapters from
The Book of Romans that we ended up putting into the
story. And I think that’s a part of it, this
man is wrestling with his demons, he’s got his
hand on the Bible, he’s trying to do the right
thing, as we all do in life. And the dark side is
pulling on him and he’s giving in to it, and
he’s getting darker and darker and darker with
his alcohol and that’s, what the devil wants
you to do man, he wants you to—convince you
that it’s all over with and that you should
kill yourself. You know, “ah just go on and
get rid of yourself, and that’ll take care of
everything.”
Q:
What surprised you most about what goes on down there?
WASHINGTON:
That nothing is the same every way you go. When the
have nots are there everyday, right there rubbing
shoulders with the super, I mean you got super super
rich people down there. And you got super poor people
and it doesn’t seem to be much middle grown.
Everybody wants to eat, you know, and if you say to
another man, “hey, you, you can’t eat
but I’m eating the best part of the steak,”
sooner or later your gonna look up and he’s
gonna ask for a slice. So I think that’s what’s
happening in many countries and unfortunately in South
America, in Brazil and Columbia and in Argentina.
It’s not just Mexico City. You know, when this
book was written twenty, thirty years ago, it was
written in Italy, it took place in Italy, when Italy
was a kidnapping capital, so.
Q: What does “MAN ON FIRE”
mean to you?
WASHINGTON:
You know, its like you said, it has so many meanings.
This is one film where I like seeing the billboard
up there, because it’s like they were smart
to make it so big, a fire is being alive again. Fire
is, you know, revenge, or whatever, or passion, you
know? She rekindles the flame in this in this mans
life.
Q:
Your still gonna terrify a lot of people—
WASHINGTON:
You think so?
Q:
Yeah, it was a wonderful film.
