Denzel Washington is the greatest actor of our generation, says Ethan Hawke

“I think when all is said and done, he’s the greatest actor of our generation,” said the 53-year-old.

Ethan mentioned, “That experience that I had on Dead Poets Society, I started having everyday acting with Denzel.”

“His imagination is so complete,” continued the Before Sunrise actor.

Ethan remarked, “I imagine it would be interesting to see how Babe Ruth touched his shoes, how he thought about various pitchers but what creates that is a tremendous amount of energy and thought.”

“What creates those moments and once you see somebody working that way, it’s like an entrance… There’s all these other rooms that you can go into the profession and that was really inspiring to me, to see my chosen profession done at that level,” explained the Predestination actor.

Interestingly, Ethan was asked about his Oscar moment with Denzel back in 2022 when the latter was nominated for Best Actor category and Ethan was competing for Best Supporting Actor for movie, Training Day.

At the time, Ethan, who lost at the Academy Awards, revealed the advice he received from Training Day co-star Denzel, “It’s better to lose the Oscar”.

Further quoting his co-star, the Alive actor said, “You don’t want an award to improve your status. You want to improve the award’s status.”

“That’s the way Denzel thinks and that’s what I’m talking about playing with Babe Ruth,” he continued.

Ethan pointed out, “The Academngy Award has more power, because Denzel has a couple. It didn’t elevate who he was.”

Interestingly, the host questioned whether Ethan would like to won the Oscar more than 20 years ago?

He responded, “No, I mean, yeah, I guess. I was at the Oscars sitting next to Denzel Washington and nominated against Ian McKellen.”

“I had already won. It was impossible for me not to see it any other way,” he added.

via