Denzel Washington’s new movie Deja Vu has opening in 3rd place behind 2 other movies already in theri second weeks. There was a time, not too long ago, when the next Denzel Washington movie got buzz just because Washington was in it. And suddenly, out of nowhere, Washington can’t seem to generate buzz while rubbing a balloon against his hair. Why is that? He certainly didn’t forget how to act… just about every performance you see him him he does a wonderful job. He didn’t get caught in some controversy or joined up with some cult. He hasn’t thrown any telephones at bell hop boys in hotels or went on any racial outbursts while doing stand up routines.
It seems like these days no one talks about Denzel anymore. And really… the only working theory I have as to why that is… and this sounds a bit far fetched I admit… but was that fateful night he won an Oscar for “Training Day” as Best Actor when everyone on the planet knew he didn’t deserve it. At least that particular year he didn’t. As a matter of fact, a lot of people to this day point to the Oscars that year as a farce that was pre-determined to be about race.
I personally do not subscribe to that theory, but, you have to at least acknowledge those people that do. You’d have to be a damn fool not to agree that Sidney Poitier deserved the honorary Oscar that night, so there is no discussion there. Halle Berry? Well, in all honesty I had no problem with her winning Best actress that year. Her performance was amazing. Yes, an argument could be made that any one of Nicole Kidman, Sissy Spacek or Judi Dench deserved it more than Berry that year… but it’s not so clear cut.
However… Denzel winning best actor that year was absurd. Man people, myself included, didn’t even think he should have been nominated… and he most CERTAINLY did NOT deserve to win over either Russell Crowe (Beautiful Mind. I didn’t LOVE the movie, but Crowe’s performance in it was easily the best of the year by a mile), or Sean Penn (I Am Sam).
Suddenly you had an Oscar with 3 winners of black heritage, 2 of whom were debatable, and one of which was a pure joke (Washington’s win). All most people could come up with was that the Academy felt like they owed Denzel one for all his previous brilliant work (I don’t disagree with that… Washington is a MASTER actor).
But after that night… it felt like a lot of people just suddenly stopped caring about Denzel Washington (and to a lesser degree Halle Berry). The shine was gone. No one suddenly hated Denzel… it just felt like there was a bit of a sour after taste in people’s mouths after that (which is a damn shame because it’s not Washington’s fault).
But look down the list of films Washington has done since. None of them have done exceedingly well… but more importantly, none of them had people talking before their release based on Denzel’s involvement. There was a time when just mentioning Denzel’s name got people bubbling over a film… but that’s gone now for the most part.
So I put it to you guys. Why is Denzel Washington not so… I dont know… “in” anymore? Why does his name not stir people like it used to? Was it the Oscar fiasco? Or am I way off and it’s something else? Leave your thoughts.
