by Paul Fischer

Denzel Washington was feeling chirpy, the morning after his latest film, Out of Time, had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. It's the Oscar-winning actor's third year in a row at the prestigious Festival. He was there last year with Antwone Fisher, and previously with Training Day and The Hurricane. But he's not here for the parties, insisting that his partying days are over, and not just because his fiftieth birthday looms in less than two years. "I got a lot to do. I've got to jump right back on a plane, and in another week I start rehearsals so I'm just too tired. I just don't feel like all of that. I did an interview yesterday and a guy kept saying 'so, you're going to be 50 now. What does 50 feel like?' 'Well,' I said, 'I'm 48, OK? 48. Don't put 50 on me,'" he recalls. "You think I'm running away from it in fear? No. Age ain't nothing but a number, so I feel good. I notice things on health on television now, because when you turn 50 you need to get those exams and when you turn 50 you're more at risk for this and that. So it is a reality." And as an actor, Washington is still up for those physically challenging roles, 50 be damned. "My body hasn't failed me, thank God and I've been blessed with good genes. I've been boxing since '94 and really heavy since I did The Hurricane. I like to box. In certain films I work out. In Out Of Time I was lifting weights a lot, so I just try to stay healthy."

In Out of Time, Washington looks fitter than ever. He jumps around, runs and fights with the bad guys in this fast-paced thriller about a small-town chief of police who becomes the main suspect in a double murder. It's an unusual character for the actor in some ways, someone who dabbles in corruption but isn't as bad as he seems. "He's very complex," summarizes Washington "He's human, stupid, arrogant, a big fish in a small pond, and worse than an adulterer. I see this as very much a film about Temptation. It's not a character driven picture, per se, but that was the mark of the character for me."

Washington has little in common with this latest character. In an industry itself driven by temptation, the actor's Hollywood life is almost an anomaly. He has been married to wife Pauletta for over 20 years and they have four children. The actor feels blessed, he says, and you know he means it. "Fortunately I married a great woman and on top of all that, my wife is
a good Christian woman and the kids all know their prayers and they say their grace. She's made their breakfast for them every morning, and packed their school lunches and taken them to school every day. So, I'm just like this satellite that spins around her," he says. As devoted as he is a husband and father, Washington remains one of Hollywood's hardest working actors. He says that he remains driven to work so hard "out of fear. A fear of failure and the desire to be the best that I can be." His second Oscar™ win for Training Day confirmed that notion "for about 10 minutes," he says. "I think that makes for more fear or at least determination. People ask me a lot about this Oscar and what it means and I'm like, I won one 13 years ago and to me there is no difference in supporting and best actor. It's like writers. If they gave out an Oscar for writing an article, should a 1000 word article be a supporting writer and a 2000 word article a leading article. What's the difference? That doesn't mean that the leading writer is a better writer. I really feel that way. It was not more of a thrill the first time. All of those things, the responsibility or fears and all that, I think were more acute 13 years ago for me than now."