The only time Denzel Washington felt scared filming a movie

When Denzel Washington signed on to star in “Training Day,” it must have been a dizzying moment for the actor. But it’s not because the film itself was a risk, or that he was worried about his ability to play his role. Rather, this 2011 crime thriller marked the first time Washington played a bad guy, a fact that made his casting in “Training Day” surprisingly controversial. Having become a megastar, winning an Oscar and earning the respect of audiences and his peers, Denzel suddenly found himself faced with a significant task: proving naysayers wrong by effectively portraying a villain on screen after two decades of playing to the good guy.

Luckily, the ever-capable star proved she was more than up to the task. His performance as corrupt LAPD Detective Alonzo Harris is one of the best performances of his career and secured Washington a second Oscar win as a result. That alone would be impressive, but when you consider what “training day” went into doing, it becomes even more incredible.

Instead of filming on the soundstage, director Antoine Fuqua decided to film “Training Day” in Los Angeles. This is a movie that takes extensive detours to some of the city’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods, which meant Fuqua and co. They were essentially filmed in gang territory for much of the film. While you might think this added to Washington’s already extensive concerns, it appears the veteran star remained clear throughout. In fact, he never worried about his safety while filming “Training Day.” However, his previous movie was the first and only time Denzel actually got scared while filming a movie.

By all accounts, Denzel Washington had a “training day” of shooting the ball, going out of sequence and improvising his way through one of his best performances. At no point do you get the sense that he was intimidated by the project, his first time playing a villain or working with real gang members in real gang neighborhoods. The actor once told Morning call So much so, when asked about the potentially dangerous shooting conditions on “Training Day.” Not only did Washington claim that he “never felt a sense of danger,” he actually recalled how welcome he felt at the Los Angeles Imperial Courts Housing Project, saying:

“I met several (gang members) and they all said, ‘Oh, you have to meet my mom.’ And the moms would come up and give me a hug and say, ‘Denzel, we need to make you something to eat right now.'” I went to a from their houses and I had a good meal.

So if shooting in a location known for its gang activity didn’t make Denzel melt, what did? Well, his previous film, “The Hurricane” managed to disconnect the actor a little. In the 1999 biopic, Denzel played real-life boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1966 before being sent to prison for 20 years. It’s one of Denzel Washington’s most rewatchable films, and it’s also the only time the actor felt a true sense of danger on set.

While “The Hurricane” is ostensibly a sports drama based on the real life of Rubin Carter, most of the film takes place in prison, where Denzel Washington’s Carter spends his time trying to prove his innocence while a young Brooklynite named Lesra Martin (vicado Reon Shannonon Shannon) agrees to exonerate the ill-convicted boxer.

Like Antoine Fuqua with “Training Day,” “The Hurricane” Director Norman Jewison decided his film would benefit from shooting on location. That meant Denzel was placed inside Jersey East State Prison (formerly “Rahway State Prison”), the same facility that housed Carter 15 years earlier. While the maximum security prison certainly lent authenticity to the film, it also managed to instill fear in typically unflappable Washington. The actor told The Morning Call that while “Training Day” was a comparative breeze, “when we shot ‘Hurricane’ at the state prison (in East Jersey) (in Rahway), and they closed the doors behind me, That’s when I experienced a sense of danger.”

Still, it’s not as if this sense of danger held the actor back, who had the true example of Rubin Carter to guide him. As Washington once told the Tampa Bay Times“This is a tough, tough man. Some of the prison guards talked about it when we were filming at Rahway (state prison). Those older guys told us they never broke (Rubin). They said everyone breaks in this penitentiary. , But not him.”