Denzel Washington fulfills ‘dream,’ visits Dallas Cowboys training camp

Remember the … Cowboys? (Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection)

 

Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington made the trip to Oxnard, California to watch Dallas Cowboys practice Saturday.

The “Training Day” star said in an interview that it was a dream for him to be at training camp and explained how deep his Cowboys fandom ran.

“First of all, I’ve been a Cowboy fan my whole life,” Washington told a collection of media at training camp. “I’m talking about Duane Thomas. I’m talking about Walt Garrison, Calvin Hill, Tony Dorsett. So I’ve been a fan for a long time. Just to be out here is just fun for me.”

He spoke with some players in the locker room beforehand and watched practice on the sideline. Washington admitted that he didn’t attend a Cowboys game last year but joked that he wouldn’t mind sideline passes from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones this season.

Washington was at practice with his son, John David, who stars as Ricky Jarrett in the HBO show “Ballers.” John David was a running back at Morehouse College and signed with the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2006 and spent some time on the team’s practice squad. He also played in NFL Europe and the United Football League.

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Viola Davis, Denzel Washington reportedly collaborating on 'Fences' movie

PBS

August Wilson's "Fences" is set in the Hill District circa 1957.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Denzel Washington will direct Viola Davis in a movie version of August Wilson’s “Fences,” the Tony Award-winning actress told The New York Times.

Ms. Davis, the star of TV’s “How to Get Away With Murder,” won a Tony for her performance as Rose in the 2010 Broadway revival of “Fences,” set in the Hill District circa 1957 and a Pulitzer Prize winner for the late playwright.

“They are making ‘Fences,’ August Wilson’s play, into a feature that Denzel Washington is directing and I’m going to be in,” Ms. Davis told the Times.

Mr. Washington, the Oscar- and Tony-winning actor, co-starred with Ms. Davis as Troy Maxson, a role originated by James Earl Jones, in the Broadway production. Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company revived the play in its Downtown theater last year, with Kevin Brown as the disillusioned sanitation worker who never made it from the Negro Leagues to the majors.

According to Playbilll.com, a film version of “Fences” was discussed as early as 1990, but Mr.
Wilson “was famously adamant that the project could go forward only if it had a black director, as the original 1987 Broadway production had had in Lloyd Richards.”

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Whoa! The Guy From 'Ballers' Is Denzel Washington's Son!

 

Credit: HBO Probably John David Washington's reaction when he finds out why people are freaking out.

 

It turns out Ricky Jerret might not hate his dad so much after all.

After the Internet recently realized the actor who portrays Jerret on The Rock's HBO show "Ballers," John David Washington, is actually Denzel Washington's son, the collective freakouts commenced.

Twitter couldn't handle it and Instagram was even more frazzled. As someone aptly put it, "Look at what God did."

And you should look at what God did. Seeing the pair side by side, it's amazing no one caught on sooner:

Getty/HBO

 

Yeah, they're father and son, or Denzel is going all Benjamin Button on us and aging backwards. Either way.

As People notes, it did take a bit for us civilians to realize the connection, despite plenty of outlets such as Deadline reporting it before, but when the Internet finally got it, Things. Got. Cray.

Equally crazy, John David was actually in the NFL for a bit with the St. Louis Rams, but now with his role in "Ballers," it's clear the apple didn't fall far from the Denzel.

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Denzel Washington says he'll direct, produce August Wilson plays for HBO

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(Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

Posted September 18 2015 — 11:05 AM EDT

Denzel Washington will be directing 10 and executive producing nine of August Wilson’s plays for HBO, the actor told the audience in a Q&A at the University of Southern California on Thursday. The two-time Oscar winner, who won a Tony Award for his performance in the 2010 Broadway revival of Wilson’s Fences, says he had made the arrangements with the Pulitzer-winning playwright’s estate to pursue the project for HBO. 

“I’m directing, producing — and acting in one [Fences] — and I’m executive producing the other nine,” he told interviewer Todd Boyd during the “An Evening With Denzel Washington” event. “I’m really excited about that — that [the estate] would put that in my hands and trust me. That’s good enough for me. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Wilson’s 10 plays, collectively called the August Wilson Century Cycle, explored the African-American experience in the 20th century, including the effects of slavery and Civil War on the culture in the 1900s. In addition to the news of his directing and producing project, Washington said that Viola Davis — his costar in Fences — will act alongside him in the HBO version.

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Denzel Washington to Direct and Star in August Wilson’s ‘Fences’ Adaptation at HBO

While everyone knows Denzel Washington for his two-time Oscar-winning acting skills, you may forget that the actor has also gotten behind the camera as a director for Antwone Fisher and The Great Debaters. And now he’s preparing for another stint wearing several hats on the movie set as director, producer and star of a new project at HBO.

During An Evening With Denzel Washington & Dr. Todd Boyd Friday night at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, the actor revealed that he recently made a deal with HBO to adapt August Wilson‘s 2010 Broadway play Fences into a film at HBO. And that’s just the beginning of a whole batch of HBO projects based on Wilson’s work.

Find out more about the Denzel Washington Fences project and more below!

THR has word from the even with Denzel Washington where the actor revealed a major deal with HBO for not just Fences, but 10 total adaptations of August Wilson’s plays. Washington said:

“He did 10 plays. I’ve been given the opportunity by the August Wilson estate. I’m directing and producing and acting in [Fences] and I’m executive producing the other nine. I made a deal with HBO…We’re going to do one a year for the next nine years. I’m really excited about that.”

If you’re not familiar with the work of August Wilson, the actor described his plays:

“His stories are specifically African American stories, but the themes are universal. Families, love, betrayal whatever the theme is. People relate and enjoy listening to or seeing his work. He was just a bright, brilliant shining light who was here and then he was gone, but his work will live forever to be interpreted by actors and directors for as long as we’re here.”

Wilson’s set of ten plays is also known as The Pittsburgh Cycle or The Century Cycle, and they all take place in a different decade of the 20th Century. In addition, all except one are set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood, which is where Wilson grew up, dealing with plenty of racial tension as an African-American child growing up in sometimes turbulent times.

As for Fences, the story follows a former baseball athlete who struggles to provide for his family as a trash collector in 1950s Pittsburgh after being denied to join the Major Leagues due to being African American. The original production took place in 1987 with James Earl Jones in the lead, and Washington won a Tony in 2010 for his work in the same role on stage with Viola Davis, who will also be reprising her role in the HBO film adaptation.

If you want to look up information about the rest of the planned Wilson adaptations, they’re called Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf. Sounds like HBO has quite a full roster of work for Washington in the future, though he won’t be directing and starring in all of them.

We’re not sure when Fences might get off the ground, but as soon as we hear something about Denzel Washington’s next directorial endeavor, we’ll be sure to let you know.

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Denzel Washington's Greatest Role: Mentor

The Boys & Girls Clubs' most famous alum inspires kids to follow his lead.

By Matt McMillen
WebMD Magazine - Feature

Reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD

Walking to Nathan Hale elementary school in Mount Vernon, N.Y., Denzel Washington passed the construction site for the Boys Club building each morning, anxious to get inside.

"I was 5, 6, maybe 7 years old, and I couldn't wait," he recalls. "My mother took me there when it finally opened, and the rest is history."

The two-time Academy Award­winner and star of the new film The Equalizer says the Boys Club of Mount Vernon (later renamed the Boys & Girls Club) helped set the foundation for his success. He's been the national spokesman for Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) for more than 2 decades now. "I'm asked to do a lot of things, but this is one [cause] that I can speak honestly about," says Washington, 59. "I know what was done for me there, and I'm sure there are thousands of young men and women who can attest to the same difference it made in their lives."

Washington, who grew up in Mount Vernon, a city just north of the Bronx, was the son of loving but busy parents. His father was a Pentecostal minister who worked two jobs during the week and preached on Saturdays and Sundays. His mother owned and ran a beauty parlor. Washington needed a place to be after school, and the club gave him a safe haven from the streets.

"The lessons that I first learned at home and at church and then later at the club kept me from getting into any serious trouble," he says. Of course, he didn't know that then. He was simply thrilled to have a place to play, a place to be around boys his own age. "We were being taught good lessons along the way, but as a kid, that's not what I went there for."

Still, the club made a mark upon him in his 12 years there. Washington recalls with affection a number of the club staff members who acted as counselors and mentors to the many boys who came through the doors. Charles White was one of those mentors.

"I remember him saying to me, 'You're a very smart young man and you can do anything you want in life.' I don't know if that was the truth," Washington says with a laugh. "But I remembered it. Up to that point, I'd never thought of myself that way. Having an adult tell a child something positive like that is a powerful thing. Words are powerful. I remember leaving the club and walking home and thinking, 'Wow, I can do something.' I didn't know what that meant at 8 years old, but I never forgot it."

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August Wilson’s 10 Plays For HBO Over Next Decade

Denzel Washington was in Beverly Hills tonight for a Q&A and broke some serious news. In a sit-down with “The Notorious Ph.D.” Todd Boyd, the two-time Oscar winner said he has worked an arrangement with the estate of August Wilson to direct and exec produce all 10 of the Pulitzer-winning dramatist’s plays for HBO. Washington said the  estate to do one a year on the premium channel.

“I’m directing, producing — and acting in one (Fences) — and I’m executive producing the other nine,” he told Boyd and the crowd during “An Evening With Denzel Washington” at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. “I’m really excited about that — that [the estate] would put that in my hands and trust me,” Washington said tonight. “That’s good enough for me. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

He also said Viola Davis also will star in Fences. She and Washington starred on Broadway in a 2010 revival of the Pulitzer-winning show, and the production earned them Best Actor and Best Actress Tony Awards and also won for Best Revival of a Play. 

HBO’s reps could not be reached for comment.

Each of Wilson’s 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle aka the Century Cycle is set during a different decade of the 1900s and aims to describe the black experience.

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