He’s considered one of the greatest actors of our time, yet even Denzel Washington has issues with some of his most rewatchable performances – including one that earned him an Oscar. According to “The Book of Eli” writer Gary Whitta, Washington confessed that in the late 2000s, he felt somewhat annoyed by the final act of “Training Day,” particularly the now-iconic speech in which he declared how very little s*** King Kong had on his character, Alonzo Harris.
During an appearance on “Kinda Funny Gamescast,” Whitta recounted the surreal conversation of picking the best Denzel Washington films with Washington himself. While Whitta’s top choice was “Man on Fire” (coincidentally, it was Washington’s as well), “The Book of Eli” directors, the Hughes Brothers, who were also present, ranked “Training Day” at the top of their list. As Whitta recounted it:
“And Denzel started thinking, ‘Yeah, it was a good one,’ but he said, ‘The only thing about that is, if I could go back and do it again, that last scene at the end when I go on about ‘you’ll be playing basketball in Pelican Bay’ and ‘King Kong ain’t got s*** on me,’ that whole thing, is I would hit that harder — like much harder.'” From there, the award-winning actor did the unthinkable and performed the climactic speech again right then and there, in front of Whitta and the Hughes Brothers — and rightfully, they just looked on in disbelief.
Denzel Washington could still recite his Training Day speech years later
It’s understandable for some movie legends to have the defining moments in their careers etched in their memory. In Washington’s case, he still had his “Training Day” speech down almost a decade after the rest of the world saw it. Whitta recalled insisting that the version audiences watched “went pretty f***ing hard to me,” only for Washington to counter that idea:
“[Washington said], ‘No, I wanted to do it like this,’ and he stood up and he did it again, the whole speech, four feet from us, going twice as hard as he did in the movie. The whole thing from memory.”
Whitta expressed disbelief at being in the front row for another take on one of Denzel Washington’s career-defining moments that earned him recognition in 2001. “I’m sitting there just watching this whole thing, it was f***ing amazing,” said Whitta. “It’s one of those moments you go, ‘This job is actually worth it.'”
For Washington, revisiting the “Training Day” speech wasn’t much of a challenge, considering that, according to director Antoine Fuqua, some of its most cherished segments originated from the actor himself. “The King Kong moment came out of Denzel,” Fuqua told Vanity Fair. “I remember that moment because we were doing the scene, and he just started going off. I remember looking at the cameraman and saying, ‘I hope you got that, because I don’t think we’re going to get that again.'” That’s true … for pretty much everyone except Gary Whitta and the Hughes Brothers.
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