By Stone Martindale Jan 3, 2008, 21:53 GMT
Denzel Washington spoke to assembled reporters at NPR Manhattan studios and noted that directing was the path he wanted to follow. "Clint Eastwood's my hero," Denzel Washington says. "That's the model. He's the guy."
12/19/2007 - Denzel Washington - "The Great Debaters" New York City Premiere - Arrivals - Ziegfeld Theatre - New York City, NY, USA © Janet Mayer / PR Photos
An Oscar winner twice over claims the path of his personal satisfaction will mimic that of thespians George Clooney, Sean Penn and Ben Affleck. "There's a generation of us now that are moving in that direction."
Creatively Washington is suited to be behind the scenes, as he did in his 2002 directorial debut "Antwone Fisher" and now a dual role of acting and directing in "The Great Debaters."
Washington received a Golden Globe nomination for his Harlem drug lord in "American Gangster," but the Globe nom for "The Great Debaters" is what excites him.
"So I am excited about it. It's like: Wow, OK, I've tried this new career, which is frightening enough as it is -- to jump out there. To be successful in one area and then jump out there, you're really sticking your chin out there," he says, then imagining what people might be thinking: " 'Oh really? Oh, does he? Well let's just see.' "
"You never know. It's all good. It's all gravy at this point," says the five-time nominee who won for 2001's "Training Day" and 1989's "Glory."
In talking about the new movie in a conference room at NPR's midtown Manhattan studios, Washington was animated in discussing the tale of the debate team at all-black Wiley College that took on major, predominantly white universities in 1935 and won.
The movie is based on real events is punctuated by racially motivated beatings and segregation, but Washington, who plays the debate team's coach says: "It's not a film about racism in the South. It's a film about young people overcoming obstacles."
Denzel and his wife Paulette have 16-year old twins, a 19-year-old Ivy Leaguer daughter, and 23-year-old son John David, a Morehouse College graduate and aspiring pro football running back.
"You can't go running the streets before you study...you have to prepare for your exam before you watch television. That's how life is," says Washington.
"A lot of times now in this fast-food society we have, kids are led to believe that you can just do what you want to do."
In December, he gave $1 million to Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, to re-establish and maintain the debate team for the next decade.
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