As Gladiator II hits our screens, Tim Bechervaise takes a look at the role that faith has played in the life of Hollywood actor, Denzel Washington
For years, whenever asked for my favourite film, I said The Book of Eli, a story about a man fighting his way across a ravaged, post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book – the Bible.
I didn’t know it when I first watched the film, but it turns out the Bible means much to the man who played Eli: Denzel Washington. Indeed, the actor – who’s starring in the eagerly-anticipated Gladiator II, which hit cinemas this month – would say the Bible means more to him now than it did when the film was released more than a decade ago.
Encountering the Holy Spirit
“The biggest moment of my life was when I was filled with the Holy Spirit.” It’s not what you’d expect a Hollywood star to say, let alone a double Oscar winner. But it’s what Washington said in a fascinating first-person essay for Esquire, released earlier this month.
I’m no longer just going to speak through my work. I’m going to make a conscious effort to speak about what God has done for me
The moment in question happened in the early 1980s. His friend, the actor Robert Townsend, invited him to West Angeles Church of God in Christ (the church Washington still attends today). He went along and there was a traditional altar call – one Washington had seen plenty of times before, having grown up in church (his father was a Pentecostal pastor). But this time felt different and he went up. “I’m just gonna give it up to God today, whatever that means.”
He recounts in detail the extraordinary encounter, including how he was “blabbering, and kept blabbering”, before concluding: “It was too powerful…It was unbelievable. It was exhausting.”
Drinking problem
Many years later, in 1999, Washington developed a drinking habit that would last 15 years – a problem that he believes originates in his childhood which, despite his Christian upbringing, was far from untroubled.
He opens his Esquire essay by recalling the day that his friend’s brother murdered someone. Washington was just eleven or twelve, and the event impacted him deeply. He went on to sell drugs, and looking back, reflects: “It probably started then – well, to be honest, that is where it started”. While he never drank on set or in preparation for films, he often drank two bottles of a wine a day when at home. But he’s now completely sober, and this December will mark a decade since his last drink.
Prophetic word
Washington’s sobriety coincides with a deepening of his faith. Speaking at a charity banquet earlier this year, he told the story of a woman approaching him when he was young and said: “You’re going to travel the world and speak to people. You are going to preach.” He adds: “I guess she was right. Through my work, I have spoken to millions of people. In 2015, I said I’m no longer just going to speak through my work. I’m going to make a conscious effort to get up and speak about what God has done for me.”
Read or watch an interview with Washington and the preacher comes out more and more. Speaking to The New York Times in 2021, he talks about spiritual warfare, being a “God-fearing man”, and the link between selfies and the Bible saying in the last days we’ll be “lovers of ourselves” (2 Timothy 3:2). He talks about reading the Bible daily and encourages the interviewer to give it a go, adding: “Start with the New Testament, because the Old Testament is harder.”
Put your slippers way under your bed so when you get up in the morning, you have to get on your knees to find them
His faith also informs the type of roles he tackles, and how he tackles them – including playing baddies. “I still have my shooting script from Training Day, and I wrote on the cover: “The wages of sin is death,” he says. He plays a bad character in Gladiator II. “Even in the darkest stories, I’m looking for light.”
So if you’re planning to watch his latest film, see if you can spot it.
Denzilms – words of wisdom
Here are a few of his best one-liners to inspire your faith…
“I just want to be in that number when the saints go marching in. I want more than anything else in my life to be in that number.”
“If you want to talk to someone, talk to the one that can do something about it.”
“My chest is sagging right now because I haven’t been lifting weights. I’m losing weight first. So you got to lift them faith weights. You got to do your curls and your squats daily.”
“Fear is contaminated faith.”
“First thing I do is pray every morning. I read my Bible. I read my Daily Word every day. I get in my half an hour of quiet time. I try to wake up now and sit there first, put my feet on the floor, and sit, and be quiet. It’s hard. It’s easy to get up and do this and that, or you left the idiot box on and that sucks you in. Turn it off.”
“Put your slippers way under your bed so when you get up in the morning, you have to get on your knees to find them. And while you’re down there, start your day with prayer.”
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