Denzel Washington revealed in a newly-unearthed interview that his notorious “flogging scene” in “Glory” left the actor who was charged with whipping him reluctant to carry out the duty.
Washington, 69, spoke concerning the scene in a 1999 interview with “60 Minutes.” Audio of the interview was included in Tuesday’s episode of “60 Minutes: A Second Look,” the podcast produced by the CBS information present that takes listeners into the “60 Minutes” vault.
Targeted on Washington, the episode aptly titled “The Gladiator of Performing,” (Washington stars in “Gladiator II,” which hits theaters Friday), pulls excerpts from three interviews Washington gave this system over the previous 25 years.
In Washington’s first “60 Minutes” interview, he spoke of “Glory,” Edward Zwick’s 1989 Civil Struggle drama concerning the first all-Black regiment within the US army, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Within the movie, Washington performed an escaped slave, Personal Silas Journey, reverse Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman and Cary Elwes.
Speaking with late “60 Minutes” broadcaster Ed BradleyWashington revealed how he ready for the scene during which his character is flogged as a result of he went AWOL to search out sneakers for different Black troopers.
“Mainly what I did was, received on my knees and kind of communicated with the spirits of those that had been enslaved — who had been whipped. And once I got here out, I used to be in cost,” he advised Bradley.
“I mentioned, ‘Journey was in cost.’ I mentioned, ‘If that is what Journey, if that is what you males, if that’s what you name yourselves, need to do to Journey, then include it.’”
Of actor John Finn, who performed Sergeant Main Mulcahy, the character who flogs Journey, Washington recalled Finn’s averse response to his marching orders.
“The man that was whipping me didn’t need to hit me,” the star mentioned within the “60 Minutes” interview. “I mentioned, ‘Come on, do it.’”
Washington additionally remembered Matthew Broderick, who performed the regiment’s commander Col. Robert Gould Shaw, struggling through the scene.
“My focus stayed on Matthew, and I even keep in mind him placing his head [down]I mentioned, ‘Don’t put your head down,’” Washington shared. Broderick’s character was the one within the movie to order the whipping.
“, you need to whip me, carry it,” Washington added. “That’s what got here to me, that’s what I performed.”
Washington received an Oscar for Finest Supporting Actor for the movie. In his acceptance speechthe “Gladiator II” star paid homage to the 54th regiment, “the black troopers who helped to make this nation free.”
He would win a second Oscar in 2002 for Finest Actor for his position in “Coaching Day.”
The actor additionally mentioned filming the scene in a 1989 New York Times profile.
“Whipping, it’s a really fundamental nightmare in American historical past, however it was more durable on the others than it was for me,” he mentioned on the time. “They realized that that is the best way it was. It sickened them. The man who was doing the whipping eased up on me – I needed to inform him, ‘Appear like you’re actually doing it!’”
In 2016, Zwick revealed the advice he gave Finn when whipping Washington with a felt whip: “Simply don’t cease.”
The scene has continued to have an effect through the years. In 2019, Michael B. Jordan told Washington that his scars in “Glory” impressed his character in “Black Panther.”