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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Jason Solomons

Film Weekly meets Denzel Washington


American idol... Denzel Washington. Photograph: AFP/Getty

Judging by the furore provoked on these web pages by the recent post about Ridley and Tony Scott being crap, you'll want to listen to my chat with Denzel Washington.

He's worked with both brothers now and doesn't seem to have any problems with them. He calls them, to his credit, "great shot makers".

It doesn't matter to Denzel in a way, because he's always good in everything. It's a remarkable career, from St Elsewhere on the telly and Cry Freedom through Mo' Better and Malcolm X to his latest, American Gangster, in which he plays Frank Lucas, a real-life Harlem drug lord who ran the city by flooding it with heroin.

Ridley's film isn't as great as you'd like it to be, but it's glibly enjoyable and Denzel's hypnotic in it. What's your favourite Denzel moment? Mine's his cool, creamy rap on Mo Better Blues, finger-synching the trumpet to Terence Blanchard's solo - although this link is him playing the movie's equally cool theme. I like how he also lends an impish charisma to guff like The Bone Collector, Fallen or even pure hokum like Tony Scott's Deja Vu.

The interview was great fun and Denzel was in a great mood, fresh from recording the score to his next directorial movie here in London. He was happy to joke and has such an objective, whatever attitude to his career - mind you, he's never really struggled since breaking through on Cry Freedom, as the list of directors he runs through testifies.

Denzel rightly takes up most of the show, but there's also a chat with first-time film maker Yael Luttwak, whose doc A Slim Peace impressed me at the ongoing UK Jewish Film Festival. She talks about filming in Israel and getting a very mixed group of women together to lose weight and make nice.

Finally, we've got the competition results for you - thanks for your nominations for your favourite all time French thrillers. Prizes of Tell No One, on DVD and in original American novel form, on the way to three of you - you'll have to listen to find out who you are though

So, your favourite Denzel moment is...

· Listen to this edition of Film Weekly on your computer (MP3)

· Subscribe free to Film Weekly, via iTunes

· The Film Weekly podcast feed URL

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