DENZEL WASHINGTON, BONE COLLECTOR
Interview by Paul Fischer

He ranks as one of Hollywood's most versatile and hypnotic actors, a real actor's actor who shines on screen no matter the role or the genre. His diversity and range are in evidence through his latest films: As a quadriplegic forensic cop in The Bone Collector, and boxer Hurricane Carter in next year's Hurricane. The actor spoke to Paul Fischer in Los Angeles.

Denzel Washington excused himself for looking tired when we met. "It was my wife's birthday - I didn't get home till 1:30", he explains smilingly. Of course, when you're an A-list star like Denzel, then birthdays are celebrated in style. "We flew to a little restaurant in Northern California's Nappa Valley, then flew to San Francisco for desert. It was quite a night." Quite the romantic is Mr Washington. Perhaps he'd rather be elsewhere than flogging his latest movie. "It's easy when you're talking about a good movie; it's gotta be hard when people are looking at you like: Why am I here?" he says laughingly.

With that said, Washington has reason to be pleased with one of his latest movies, the taut serial killer thriller The Bone Collector. What is so unique about this film, is that the actor, usually so physically agile, spends the film lying down As a quadriplegic. One would instantly think: No work out required. Not necessarily so, responds the actor. "Actually I did work out, because I had to be flexible and relaxed, which takes a lot of energy." Part of the reason for that was his preparation for another film. "I wasn't even planning on doing this film, but instead was preparing to play Reuben 'Hurricane' Carter, and had been training for the previous year and a half before shooting. About four months before we started, my agent sent me this script, which I was reluctant to even read. But he told me a bit about it, and the quadriplegic nature of the character, so I read it. I was like: 'Hmmmmmmm, I've gotta have some of this. I realized what a challenge it could be; we didn't even know, going in, if it would work, playing a guy that doesn't move, could only move one finger, and was essentially a talking head. The question is: How do you make that interesting?"

In The Bone Collector, directed by Australia's Phillip Noyce, Washington plays a brilliantly intellectual and arrogant forensic detective, now a quadriplegic determined to die. Things change with a series of brutal killings and his partnership with a tough street cop trying to unravel her own demons, played by Angelina Jolie. To make it interesting, Washington says, he relied a lot on the skill of director Phillip Noyce. "A lot of it was in his hands, because he's got to make the shots and keep the scene alive, since I'm just there. However, what I found out was, since I work from the inside out anyway, and that all of this is just a little sleight of hand, I didn't necessarily need it to play the role. I just set about interpreting that character, and simply put, that character could not move."

Doing this film involved undertaking considerable research into the plight of the quadriplegic, including meeting with the most quadriplegic of all: Christopher Reeve. "You can't help but be inspired by Chris. He is determined that he'll be walking up that red carpet very soon, and I believe him. But he was one of many people I met, including attorneys, a gymnast who'd snapped his neck and a man who had just slipped and fell in the bathroom." Washington's character is very restrictive and reactive, so he really had to work solely with his face, a challenge in itself. "I felt that I didn't want to start manipulating my face to get a point across, which is something I don't know how to do - I wasn't going to start now and find out later I was wrong. You've still got to be honest to the character, and it really does come from the inside."

One of the film's more controversial themes is that of euthanasia, a politically hot topic these days, but one in which the actor wouldn't be drawn "in case I get myself into trouble." What he did concede was "that I want to live, and I can't say what I would want if I were in that character's position. I know from all the research I did, was that the common denominator I kept hearing from people is that they lost all their independence - someone bathes you, feeds you, etc. I didn't hear As much about the physical, but just the frustration of the independence itself, the decision to do what you want to do when you want to do it. That's complicated, on top of that, by the fact that this character was also suffering from dysreflexic seizures, which could render him a vegetable at any moment. All he has now is his brain. He has a great mind, and this is what he has left, which he could lose As well. So I would have to be in those shoes, to say what I'd do."