Social media is abuzz with Denzel Washington’s interview where the 69-year-old Oscar winner admitted he was unfamiliar with late director Stanley Kubrick’s work.
The interview, conducted in November with Collider correspondent Steve Weintraub to promote “Gladiator II,” is now going viral.
When asked by Weintraub about his favorite Stanley Kubrick film, Washington, known for “The Equalizer,” admitted he wasn’t a “real film buff” and didn’t have one.
Kubrick’s notable films include “Dr. Strangelove,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and “A Clockwork Orange.”
“I’m not a movie buff — no, I’m not a big movie fan,” Washington confessed. “I was in the street when he was making movies.”
During that period, Washington wasn’t involved in the Hollywood scene.
“I’d be the one outside looking to rob you when you came out of a Kubrick movie, OK?” Washington added.
“So I wasn’t a real film buff. I didn’t start acting until I was 20 years old and didn’t start really going to the movies until I was 20, 22, 23.”
Washington clarified his earlier statement, explaining that as a teenager, he watched films like “Shaft” (1971) and “Super Fly” (1972), directed by Gordon Parks and Gordon Parks Jr., respectively.
These were significant works by prominent Black filmmakers of the 1970s. Washington, an Oscar winner for “Glory” and “Training Day,” received mixed reactions from viewers regarding his comments.
Weintraub wore a shirt featuring Stanley Kubrick’s image during the interview, which led fans to believe he was presumptuous in assuming Washington shared the same cultural experience with cinema.
“I’M SO GLAD DENZEL DID THIS!” one social media user wrote, per Daily Mail. “He’s definitely a movie buff, but what he was really saying was why this man thought he could ask someone like Denzel who champions Black films, to speak about a white director instead of a Black one.”
“White film critics are insufferable this way,” the user continued. “The arrogance to be doing press for a film and wear a shirt by another filmmaker … to quiz the actors about that person’s filmography like they’re contestants on a game show … they position everything from their very white, and in this case white male perspective.”
Another viewer echoed similar sentiments, suggesting that Washington was too experienced to be misled by the leading question.
“They should have known better than to try it on with Denzel, he never puts up with crap,” the fan wrote.
One social media user even suggested that Washington “probably doesn’t like any Kubrick films he’s seen but there’s no polite way to say that.”
However, some viewers felt that Washington came across as arrogant in the interview.
“I’m unbelievably disappointed in that answer … why does he seem so pretentious now,” one user wrote.
“So in the last 40 years he’s never seen the Shining? LOL,” someone else commented, referring to the 1980 horror classic.
Another user thought Washington was “just being difficult for the sake if being difficult,” while a third said the interviewer wasn’t out of line.
