Denzel Washington Sets The Record Straight After 'Retirement' Headlines

Denzel Washington has insisted that recent headlines about his supposed “retirement” were a little overblown.

Last week, Denzel caused a stir when he let slip that he’d landed an undisclosed role in Marvel’s next Black Panther movie.

“At this point in my career, I’m only interested in working with the best,” the two-time Oscar winner told Australia’s Today. “I don’t know how many more films I will make, probably not that many.”

Denzel then raised eyebrows when he suggested he was “going to retire” after a series of projects he already had in the pipeline.

However, in a clip from an upcoming interview with BuzzFeed, Denzel clarified exactly what he meant with this comment.

“I didn’t say I was going to go into retirement,” he insisted. “I said that it has to be a level of interest for me.”

Denzel continued: “I’m more interested in getting behind the camera, so that’s about five years out.

“It’s very difficult. I may have used the word ‘retire’... but I look at life in three sections – you learn, you earn and you return. I’m in the return part of life.”

Remarking on the media “tour” he’s currently on with his Gladiator co-stars, Denzel said: “They’re taking over. I’m not ‘retiring’ – it’s not like, ‘OK, on 5 June, that’s it’. But to think I’m going to run as far as they are… I’d be a fool. And I think that’s the ego, that thinks, ‘oh yeah I can do it’, no you can’t, your stuntman’s doing it now.

“So, I’m less interested in running and jumping. You let Paul [Mescal] and John David [Washington, his actor son] run and jump. And to think, ‘oh I can still do it’, you’re a fool.”

Denzel is currently gearing up for the release of the new Gladiator sequel, in which he stars alongside Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn The White Lotus’ Fred Hechinger and Connie Nielsen, one of the few actors who is reprising her role from the first film.

Earlier this week, he caused a stir when he opened up about a particular scene that wound up on the cutting room floor.

Gladiator II is in cinemas now.