Is Denzel Washington Thinking About Retiring from Acting?

Denzel Washington has been a stalwart presence on the big screen since the 1980s, and his career has seen him play heroes, villains and figures situated somewhere between the two. In a recent interview with Empire to promote his work in the forthcoming Gladiator 2, Washington seemed to suggest that he was considering retiring from his primary career.

“There are very few films left for me to make that I’m interested in, and I have to be inspired by the filmmaker, and I was tremendously inspired by Ridley [Scott],” Washington told Empire. It’s not hard to hear echoes of Nicolas Cage’s comments about being more selective about his own roles, as well as another actor who recently worked with Ridley Scott — namely, Matt Damon — lamenting the lack of interesting film projects available in recent years.

And hey, it’s also understandable: Washington is a prodidgiously talented actor and a generational onscreen presence. He’s also the best judge of his career to date, and if he’s at a point where he only wants to take on roles that sound interesting to him, that’s an eminently understandable decision.

That said, it’s also worth reading between the lines and seeing that Washington didn’t say that he was retiring, full stop. These days, Washington’s onscreen work isn’t limited to his acting. He’s now directed several films — most recently A Journal for Jordan — and produced several more, including multiple screen adaptations of August Wilson’s plays. An onscreen adaptation of Wilson’s The Piano Lesson is set to premiere in November.

Washington also specifically addressed acting in films in his comments to Empire. But onscreen acting isn’t the only acting Washington engages in; next year, he’s set to act in a Broadway production of Othello. Is Washington broadening his horizons at this point in his career and exploring new crafts along the way? Keep an eye on screens and stages near you.