Josh Brolinrecalls the time he got into an intense confrontation with Denzel Washington on the set of Ridley Scott’s 2007 crime thriller. Brolin has been in his fair share of scrapes on the big screen, fromThanos’ epic CGI-rendered battles against the Avengers, to Llewelyn Moss’ desperate cat-and-mouse game with Anton Chigurh inNo Country For Old Men, to Cable’s outrageous comic book fights inDeadpool 2.
For his own part, Brolin’s one-time co-star Washington has also often flashed the grittier and more combative side of his on-screen persona. He won one of his two Academy Awards for playing the street-wise, corrupt, and incredibly belligerent Alonzo Harris inTraining Day. He played a literal fighter in the biopicThe Hurricane, and later portrayed a Wild West gunslinger in the remake ofThe Magnificent Seven. But nowhere is Washington’s steely fortitude and way with violence more in evidence than in the ongoingEqualizerfranchise, where he plays unstoppable vigilante Robert McCall.
Brolin Says He Almost Got Into A Real Fight With Washington On The Set Of Scott’s American Gangster
Brolin Learned An Eye-Opening Lesson About Washington’s On-Set Intensity
Brolin and Washington are indeed both familiar with on-screen fury and simulated physical confrontation, but the violence almost became real on the set ofAmerican Gangster, the Scott-directed 2007 crime thriller. Brolin was cast in the film as corrupt detective Trupo, who develops a complex relationship with Washington’s drug kingpin Frank Lucas.
Appearing recently onIn Depth with Graham Bensinger, Brolin recalled the moment his real experience with Washington became nearly as intense as Trupo and Lucas’ on-screen relationship. Brolin talked about crossing a boundary with his co-star and briefly thinking he was about to throw down with the Oscar-winner:
Denzel and I, by the way, get along very well now. We almost got into a fight. Denzel was a little late to set and there was a whole thing there. And then he showed me the lines … he didn’t change any of my lines, but he kind of changed the structure of it. He said, “I think I’m gonna put this down here and I’m gonna put that up there.” But he wouldn’t really look at me.
Brolin says he was thrown by Washington rearranging the scene without warning:
So I was trying to remember the structure, and then we rehearsed. It wasn’t that many lines, mostly mine. And I’m supposed to be super confident. It’s Denzel Washington, man. It’s, like, not easy. You’re just this actor who they’re trying out, seeing if he’s the real thing or not. And I forgot a line. And I put my hand on his shoulder and I said, “What’s the line?” and he hits my hand off and he said, “Don’t ever f——ng put your hand on me.”
Brolin reveals that he and Washington were able to calm down before things got physical, and worked out the scene eventually:
And I was like, “Holy s—t, I’m gonna scrap with Denzel Washington. This is crazy.” We’re not actors anymore … at least in my mind. In his mind he was just doing his job. He was that guy. He was [American Gangster character] Frank Lucas, period. But I didn’t know. And then we got through that moment. I said, “Are you okay?” He said, “Yeah. You?” I said, “Yeah. Can I get my line?” He said, “Go for it.” It’s like he’d said what he needed to say.
Our Take On Brolin Nearly Fighting Washington On The American Gangster Set
Washington Is As Formidable In Life As He Is In Movies
It’s indeed good to know that cooler heads prevailed before Brolin and Washington came to blows. It’s hard to say which star would’ve won had they gotten into an actual fight, but Brolin would have come out the worse from a career point-of-view. The latter-day Thanos actor was not an established star at the time ofAmerican Gangster, as he admits in his interview. Washington, on the other hand, was already one of the biggest names in Hollywood, with multiple box office successes and loads of awards on his resume.
Washington can currently be seen in Scott’s long-awaited sequelGladiator 2
It’s going too far to say Brolin’s career would’ve been derailed by a physical altercation with a star the magnitude of Washington. It’s likely his reputation would’ve been able to recover, but he doubtless would’ve experienced some short-term issues getting roles, as producers sided with the more established star.
Brolin’s story not only reveals his own struggles as he learned how to work with a star like Washington, it also highlights just how intense Washington is on-set. Washington was fully into hisAmerican Gangstercharacterwhen Brolin laid a hand on him, and reacted as Frank Lucas would. Thankfully for all involved, Washington dropped the character long enough to talk things out with Brolin, and get them both into the right place to perform the scene.
American Gangster
Cast
American Gangster is a 2007 crime film directed by Ridley Scott, featuring Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, a heroin kingpin in Harlem, and Russell Crowe as Richie Roberts, the detective determined to bring him down. The film explores the rise of Lucas in the drug trade and the eventual intersection of their lives amidst the backdrop of a corrupt and morally complex society.
