Denzel Washington on policing, military: ‘I have the utmost respect for what they do’
Throughout his illustrious career, Washington has played a law enforcer more than a dozen times.
After playing a cop several times on the big screen, Denzel Washington is now sharing his thoughts on law enforcement and their role in the current social climate.
“I have the utmost respect for what they do, for what our soldiers do, [people] that sacrifice their lives,” Washington told Yahoo Entertainment during a recent interview promoting his new thriller, The Little Things. “I just don’t care for people who put those kind of people down. If it weren’t for them, we would not have the freedom to complain about what they do.”
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Some may be surprised he’s taking such a bold stance right now while organizations like Black Lives Matter continue to put a spotlight on issues like police brutality and the disparities that exist in how Black people are treated by law enforcement in comparison to their white counterparts.
But like the publication points out, this project “marks the 13th time the 66-year-old Oscar winner plays a law-enforcer during his illustrious career, most of them clean (The Bone Collector, Out of Time) but a few occasionally dirty (Training Day).”
In his most recent project, The Little Things, Washington plays a disgraced Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detective who finds a chance at redemption when he believes a serial killer he once encountered is on another murder spree.
Washington also has a deep respect for military service members and veterans after playing those roles more than a half-dozen times in his career as well in critically acclaimed classics like Glory, Crimson Tide, and Courage Under Fire, to name a few.
“I went out on call with a sergeant,” he recalls of a ride-along while preparing to play a cop-turned-district attorney in the 1991 thriller Ricochet. “We got a call of a man outside his house with a rifle that was distraught. We pulled up and did a U-turn past the house and came up short of the house. He told me to sit in the car, which I was gonna do. I wasn’t getting out. He got out. As he got out, another car came screaming up and two young people jumped out screaming. As it turned out, it was their grandfather. This policeman defused the entire situation by just remaining calm.”
“But it showed me in an instant how they can lose their life,” he concluded. “He didn’t overreact. He could’ve pulled his gun out and shot the people that came up driving real fast. He could’ve shot the old man that was distraught and a bit confused, I think he was suffering a little bit from dementia. But in an instant, it taught me, and I never forgot it, what our law enforcement people have to deal with, moment to moment, second to second.”
The Little Things premieres in theaters and on HBO Max on Friday, January 29.
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