Actor Denzel Washington set a New York Times interview on its ear when he began proselytizing about his Christian faith.
The 63-year-old actor was being interviewed on his new movie “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” when the subject of his spiritual beliefs came into the conversation.
He said that before his 97-year-old mother died this year, he promised her that he would “attempt to honor her and God by living the rest of my days in a way that would make her proud. So that’s what I’m trying to do.”
“I’m more interested in directing because I’m more interested in helping others,” the actor said. “What I do, what I make, what I made — all of that — is that going to help me on the last day of my life? It’s about, Who have you lifted up? Who have we made better?
“This is spiritual warfare. So, I’m not looking at it from an earthly perspective. If you don’t have a spiritual anchor you’ll be easily blown by the wind and you’ll be led to depression,” he said.
His dad, who died in 1991, was a Pentecostal minister.
Washington then turned his attention to the interviewer, Maureen Dowd, and asked her about her faith.
“Have you read the Bible? Start with the New Testament, because the Old Testament is harder. You get caught up in the who-begot-who-begot-who thing,” he said.
The actor said he was not worried about the movie being finished when the COVID pandemic shut down the production.
“I’m a God-fearing man,” the actor said. “I try not to worry. Fear is contaminated faith.”
As for all of the race based controversies and politics in Hollywood, Washington said he was not concerned.
“Hollywood is a street,” he argued.
“I live in Los Angeles. I don’t live in Hollywood. I don’t know what Hollywood thinks. It’s not like it’s a bunch of people who get together on Tuesdays.”
He blamed sin itself for the division, not only in Hollywood but in the world.
“The enemy is the inner me,” the actor said. “The Bible says in the last days — I don’t know if it’s the last days, it’s not my place to know — but it says we’ll be lovers of ourselves. The No. 1 photograph today is a selfie, ‘Oh, me at the protest.’ ‘Me with the fire.’ ‘Follow me.’ ‘Listen to me.’
“We’re living in a time where people are willing to do anything to get followed. What is the long or short-term effect of too much information? It’s going fast and it can be manipulated obviously in a myriad of ways. And people are led like sheep to slaughter,” he said.
He said that in Heaven, “there are going to be two lines, the long line and the short line, and I’m interested in being in the short line.”
He then advised the interviewer to read The Daily Word, which is an app that provides a daily inspirational message.
“You have to fill up that bucket every morning,” the actor said. “It’s rough out there. You leave the house in the morning. Here they come, chipping away. By the end of the day, you’ve got to refill that bucket. We know right from wrong.”
