The Tenet actor, 36 . He reportedly told the young boy to "go ahead, step up and do it." Despite not earning a contract as an NFL rookie, he still earned a spot on the "St. Louis Rams' practice squad," and in his first season, Washington notched "his first NFL carry" of nine yards. Ive spent the past week talking with a dozen or so of the actors family members, friends, and colleagues. I want to learn. When he began playing football at the end of elementary school, he fell in love with the competition and the attention. Washington was back home with his family in Los Angeles. That Malcolm X role was the one that propelled his dad into bona fide stardom. InTenet, the action is relentless. Telling people your father is Mr. Washington probably won't raise an eyebrow. Every Theory Explained. The line, "Now is the winter of our discontent," was written by Shakespeare, and Denzel was rehearsing and preparing for a performance in Central Park, as recapped by SI. The kinds of actors who draw people to theaters in droves, who inspire directors, whose names we shorten as if we know them personally: Newman, Eddie, Cruise, Denzel, Brad, J-Law. Tragically, he suffered a "torn Achilles," per SI. As he recalled, Theres a line where Sam says to me, Will you just be quiet? There was a night I almost cracked up the way he said it, because I felt like he really meant it., Washington seemed genuinely delighted by the notion that he could be so talkative it would annoy someone else. With John David, its taken off quickly because hes really good, and because he studies the art form, and because he really is submerging himself into the character.. . It meant making new friends, only to have them ask for your dads autograph. Washington stars opposite Robert Pattinson, and the success of the film rides on the chemistry between the two, Nolan says. As taxing as it was, it damn near broke me, but Id do it again and again, Washington said. If that's not all, she was also starring on Broadway at the time when she met Denzel. We fail and falter, and then, if were lucky, we start to succeed. I want to get beat up, John David Washington said, explaining why he wanted to perform in The Piano Lesson., Washington with Samuel L. Jackson onstage. Washington said that he started learning his lines for The Piano Lesson when he was in Indonesia earlier this year, filming True Love, a science fiction film written and directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Rogue One). It turned out Washington loved being at a historically black college. But a family friend, agent Andrew Finkelstein, kept calling. Hell be playing a James Bond/Jason Bournetype character. Henderson was friends with Baraka and had both starred in and directed the play, so a couple times a week, hed head downtown to help Washington and his scene partner with the class assignment. John David Washington is having a moment. He looked out the window and watched him walk away at the end of the meeting and said, He moves like a panther, he moves like a cat, like a catlike grace, and I think John David has his own version of that. The show was Ballers, and Jaffe had seen more than a hundred men for the role of Ricky Jerretformer college ballplayers, actors. Nothing serious. On his birthday, hed been sending most of his calls to voicemail. Every Theory Explained, Tenet, Inception & Interstellar Are Linked - Nolanverse Theory Explained, 1 Mortal Kombat Character Actually Appeared In A Disney Movie, Star Wars Has Introduced A Superweapon OLDER Than The Sith, Sisu Is The Inglourious Basterds Reboot We've Been Waiting 15 Years For. In addition to negative "locker-room rhetoric" he heard at private school, John David wasalso a victim of racism during his summer holidays. The athlete pushed through the pain, "refusing to stop practicing," but the team still cut him loose. I could care less if I ever work with Denzel again. Washington recounted the time when Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Potts called him out for eating banana chips in rehearsal: Sam was like, he uttered a Jackson-esque word that cannot be printed here Boy Willie dont eat no banana chips. When he really gets into a memory, his iPad slips and I stare at the collar of his shirt and scruffy chin, not wanting to interrupt. You done got found out, bruh, a friend shouted. It was time to go up onstage.. Denzel's major awards started coming in the early '90s when he won both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his work in Glory. Learn how to get rejected in the audition process while studying.'" The headline began with his fathers name. The entertainment industry, along with the rest of the world, has ground to a halt. Even as the movie industry struggled to figure out how to deal with restrictions and closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, John David found a way to handle it with grace. I love her, he says. This is John David Washingtons moment. He spent Tuesday nights watching movies in his teammate Steven Jacksons home theater. Washingtons BlacKkKlansman character, Stallworth, is at turns earnest and snarky as he sits for long phone conversations with Topher Graces David Duke. Im a season into The Sopranos, watching it for the first time during quarantine. And sure enough, he asked his son to help around the house, making him finish "a chore or two." I mean, you have to watch them when theyre completely finished and edited three or four times to understand what the true meaning is, Pattinson says. It's time to tackle the untold truth of John David Washington. This is from the Malcolm X speech, right? Those early years in a career are raw and painful and embarrassing and thrilling and magical as we begin to figure out what were good at. And I said, Well, man, Ive got to tell you, hes got some chops. Hes Christopher Nolans next action hero. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SBIFF. After all, it worked for Clint Eastwood inThe Good, The Bad & The Ugly. In Monsters and Men, his Dennis Williams is a serious family man who is trying as hard as he can to turn a blind eye to the racism of his fellow cops out of self-preservation. Don't miss the big stories. Washington said that to him the play conveyed the overwhelming feeling of American societys proprietary entitlement over its history. With a chuckle, he added that it told a relatable story about every family gathering, how theres always that one cousin or family who shows up and its like, oh, here we go.. Theres definitely a bond in the end in kind of hiding the fact that maybe neither one of us knew exactly what was going on. In 2020, he starred in Tenet, a complex thriller about characters who can move forward and backward in time. Washington played the role of Ricky Jerret, a wide receiver on the HBO series Ballers. But his mother, Pauletta Washington, is also an incredibly talented performer. This memory is significant for John David in more than one way. Craig first began contributing to Screen Rant in 2016, several years after graduating college, and has been ranting ever since, mostly to himself in a darkened room. They should reopen the case is what I think. JDW? Calling Finkelstein was a Hail Mary. Rehearsed. Though Denzel Washington isn't billionaire Bill Gates rich, he is certainly worth a lot of money. Hows it going? "Yeah," John David admitted. This concept works from an in-universe perspective too. When we talk over Zoom in mid-April, hes styled himself in gym shorts, a bandanna with white stars wrapped around his hair, and a long-sleeved black shirt with a sepia photo of his maternal great-grandmother silk-screened onto it. The play holds a special value for Jackson, who played Boy Willie in its original 1987 production at Yale Repertory Theater. People have been asking him the same questions about his dad his whole life. He also gushed about how proud he was that his eldest made it to Hollywood on his own, where he first broke into the biz with his role, fittingly, as a football star Ricky Jerret on Ballers. "I was in my old room." John David Washington Says He Had to Do Chores While Living at Home Again with Dad Denzel amid Pandemic Jackson, 71, asked the Ballers star if his father had made him. Washington hadnt quite given up on that childhood acting dream, and he thought. Im feeling very, very loosey-goosey, if you will. Tenet posters with Washingtons image are hanging in theaters that are still and empty, time capsules reminding us what we looked forward to before the pandemic struck. He is also, of course, a son of Denzel Washington, the decorated actor and filmmaker. It took Washington decades to start acting. While at the HBCU, Washington was busy on and off the field. It worked for a while. Washington arrives with no backstory, no deeper motivation, and experiences no personal journey inTenet, other than saving the world. John David Washington during an interview in 2016 (Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM / YouTube) Best Known For. .css-gk9meg{display:block;font-family:Lausanne,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding-top:0.25rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-gk9meg:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.15;margin-bottom:0.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}Pedro Pascal Is Joining 'Gladiator 2', The Best, Craziest, Weirdest Moments From Cannes, Celebrities Who've Shaved Their Heads for Roles, 'Avatar: The Way of Water' Is Finally Streaming, 'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' Sticks the Landing, Damon Lindelof Was 'Asked to Leave' Star Wars, Christopher Nolan Is Hyping Up 'Oppenheimer', Pedro Pascal, Ethan Hawke Are a Great Cowboy Match, Seeing Hugh Grant's Oompa Loompa Will Break Me, 'The Flash' Just Debuted Another Massive Trailer. And because of the difference in on-screen experience, Washington revealed, "I'm learning from her. And now he is not just ready to eat; he is practically vibrating in his chair so he can tear through a bowl of matzo ball soup and get back to the Ethel Barrymore Theater, where he has been performing in The Piano Lesson., Washington is by no means a novice actor. Youll know, OK, that felt right.. So I got a well-balanced meal of experience and people from all different places of the United States that looked like me., And it was a place where people didnt know who he was. Craig has previously been published on sites such as Den of Geek, and after many coffee-drenched hours hunched over a laptop, part-time evening work eventually turned into a full-time career covering everything from the zombie apocalypse to the Starship Enterprise via the TARDIS. Washington (father) and Washington (son) walked down the streets of New York City in the summer of 1990 as the former rehearsed scenes from Richard III for a Shakespeare festival. Quietly confident, like James Bond without the toxic masculinity, but quite happy to slap a man with a cheese grater. John David Washington is an American actor, producer, and former professional football player. . A couple weeks in, I was worried, very concerned I wasnt going to be able to finish this thing, Washington says of filming action scenes in, This film deserves it. Didnt go over well. Alternatively, "coaching or maybe teaching." People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Even if I break something, I am not going to say nothing to nobody until this thing gets done.. And hes moments away from breaking into the stratosphere. Right around that time, BlacKkKlansmanpremiered at Cannes. But unlike in those early weeks at Morehouse, he couldnt escape his last name. Not celebrities, who seem to pop up every day, but Movie Stars. Washington couldnt drive because of the boot on his foot, so Pauletta dropped him off at the audition and he hobbled up the steps, still loopy from pain meds. It meant having people listen for your dads voice when you spoke, look for his face in yours. . He learned to spin a yarn from his grandparents, sitting around a fire in their North Carolina yard. Even if I break something, I am not going to say nothing to nobody until this thing gets done., The Untold Story of John David Washington, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. . As the son of Denzel Washington, you might be able to guess where John David Washington grew up: he and his siblings were raised in Los Angeles. They found you; you aint never going to be yourself.. She is a classically trained pianist who went to The Juilliard School in New York. He got into SATC when he was in the NFL, buying the pink book with the full series on DVD. "There was a chore or two.". When this does happen, there will be Washington, our new movie starJohn David, JD, JDWfilling the screen. "It still could happen, by the way, you never know," Washington mused. John David Washington at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. A moment on pause. As a result, The Protagonist acts as somewhat of a blank slate (though not necessarily uninteresting) hero for the audience to project themselves onto while watching. I walked over and saw medical information on the counter: Hed completely ruptured his Achilles. One of his favorite characters on the show was the matriarch of the title family, Carmela Soprano played by Edie Falco. He pauses for a moment, then continues with a self-deprecating laugh. In this article, an example of translation of the English term learning outcome into the Lithuanian system of educational terms is used to discuss semantic peculiarities of translating professional terms. #ChristopherNolan, Ludwig Goransson, #JohnDavidWashington, and Travis Scott discuss the creative process behind the song, "The Plan" and how it was incorpora. It was a chance to get back onto a movie set and to remain safely behind the camera. But did you catch his first appearances on camera? But with Tenet, he simply couldnt get Washington out of his head. . When Washington talks about his first steps into the industry, its clear how heavily it all weighed on him then. As a former football player, he appeared to be the athletic one of the family until a major life event upended everything. Firstly,Tenetis not a film that prioritizes character development highly, and the twisting narrativeactually makes evolving the cast in a traditional sense all but impossible. Why did I make the decision as an actor? I must have really been rolling that night, he said. Hes just blossomed, honestly, in the last five years, says Zo Kravitz. Lee told Washington he couldnt tell anyonenot even his agentuntil the script was done. At football camp the summer before his first semester, he made a pact with his new teammates: Dont tell anyone who my dad is. I kept laughing because he was clearly enjoying showing me that no matter how fast I ran, he could always run faster, Bale said. With Tenet, Nolan is essentially modernizing the 007 formula, but avoiding the darker intensity of Daniel Craig's era. Theyve sat for hours, watching three, four, five films back to back. Now, granted, Im on a heavy medication, Washington says. It wasnt known as a football powerhouse, and Washington, a standout running back, had just played in the high school All-American game and was considering San Jose State, Grambling, maybe even a spot at UC Berkeley. The director invited Nolan to the premiere of "BlacKkKlansman" at the Cannes Film Festival, and the charismatic newcomer made an impression. Within minutes of the start of our first conversation, he is giving me his take on The Sopranos and Sex and the Cityboth shows that we missed the first time around because we were in college. . In my first conversation with him, he just felt like somebody on the cusp of really great things. Nolan had first seen Washington in Ballers years before. He was right. . Im glad she did.. After spending time together, Washington learned "the truth, inside out" and could bring an authentic performance to the film. Even though it was hard to hear him say that, I felt like he was telling me something important. In that moment, she had tremendous compassion for him; how is the teenage son of a great craftsman to carve out an identity for himself? Who? You get into a room earlier, easier; you get an agent easier; there are things about it that are definitely easier. These two shows were part of the HBO era that helped Washington "fall in love with TV.". He resides in Brooklyn. But he continued to chop wood, flying back and forth to the acting studio, spending his off time studying with veteran actor Henderson. You use football as an excuse. He said, Its a full-contact sport, John David, the younger Washington recalled. Hed just had surgery to repair his Achilles. This time, in the 1995 film Devil in a Blue Dress. I dont think so., Washington has been analyzingreally studyingfilmmaking since he was a kid. John David even admitted that he keeps "a batch chilling in the freezer of his rented L.A. digs" for comfort food on demand. "They should reopen the case is what I think," Washington added. Youve got to go to class, youve got to put in the work. But it scared me because that means youve been running from this. 2018 saw the release of BlacKkKlansman, along with Monsters and Men, in which Washington plays a police officer whose colleague shoots and kills a black man. What's your favorite role by the younger Washington? Perched with his mom in the video village, where key crew members sit on a movie set, he saw characters come to life on the small monitors, little snippets of the stories being created just feet away. But now, this time, hes telling John Davids story. Washington attended Morehouse College, an HBCU in Georgia, he told CNN. Hed worked so hard, through so many injuries, and now he was terrified about what would come next. "She has far more experience than I do in the industry. If you ask those who knew him best then, theyll tell you JD was a sports fanatic. The timing and severity put an end to his football career. But no one has told me this story yet. "My parents were 100 percent supportive my mom's my biggest fan," he explained to Vanity Fair. The draft came and went, and his name was never called. John David Washington says that Christopher Nolan once caught him cheating on his strict "Tenet" diet plan with a backpack full of paprika flavored Pringles. John David admitted to Vanity Fair, "I knew every one of my father's lines in Glory." Washington's Preparations Long before John David Washington became a famous actor, he was a running back who was signed by the NFL's St. Louis Rams. Lee recounts this story and then tells me to take down a note to read to Nolan when I talk to him later in the week. His training involves a briefing from a Q-style scientist (Clmence. Nope. John David Washington plays The Protagonist in Tenet, and his character is referred to as such throughout. Another crucial opportunity came when Lee chose him to star as the police detective Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman, released in 2018. Pattillo began getting calls from pro scouts. His dad kept asking questions like For HBO? Like us on Facebook. I want to get beat up., He added, If I can survive, Im going to be such a better actor than I was before I started this.. But Washington sadly missed a golden opportunity to learn his mom's mac and cheese recipe. Charlotte [fromSATC], that was my girl. After, the two became parents and watched their little boy grow up. Celebrity Net Worth clocks John David's net worth at $6 million, and for at least a portion of the pandemic, the 36-year-old actor was able to save on living expenses by crashing at his parents' New York condominium. More:Tenet, Inception & Interstellar Are Linked - Nolanverse Theory Explained. That summer, veteran actor Stephen McKinley Henderson was on Broadway with Washingtons father in A Raisin in the Sun,a few dozen blocks up from his acting class. And when he started, he did it in secret. Yo, this is Spike, call me.. Pop. Washington told only his mom he was going out for the role, and the two of them got to work. On an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! Its built up to this moment. If you think you have arrived on time for your lunch appointment with him, you will find he has already been waiting for you he has, in fact, been sitting quietly at a table at Bubbys for 15 minutes, in his perennially prompt, unapologetically eager manner. Being the dedicated athlete that he was, he attacked it in the same way that he attacked that, and he got all he could out of it.. Denzel is one of many famous actors, like Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, who are alumni of the long-running production. I just wanted to blend in. He could coach. Hed be great! I was okay after.. It makes me cry to talk about it, Oliver tells me. So he stuck with it, and by his last season, hed set a career rushing record at the school. . When John David Washington realised the world was about to take a hiatus - via a combo of the news and a particularly insistent agent - the 36-year-old decided, as many did, to move back. While being the child of a star has its drawbacks, an undeniable advantage is access. At no point is he ever referred to in specific terms, and Priya even uses the term "Protagonist" on screen. In an interview with The Breakfast Club, the actor revealed that Spike Lee personally encouraged him to act. Did Lee just want his opinion on it? And so from a selfish point of view as a filmmaker, you immediately think, Id like to be a part of that actors journey. Hed talked to his uncle, who told him he didnt have to go into acting. In fact, he was treated differently because of his skin color. Like many young adults, John David Washington moved home amid the coronavirus pandemic, and his dad Denzel Washington made sure he was earning his keep around the house. The Piano Lesson, for which Wilson won the second of his two Pulitzer Prizes, is part of the playwrights Pittsburgh Cycle. Lead actor John David Washington once admitted to needed clarification on the plot while working with Christopher Nolan on the set, and it sounds like the actor is still pondering things after its . . But if you use the first name, Denzel that's another thing. After landing the breakout role as Ricky Jerret in HBO's hit series Ballers, in 2015, Washington went on to star in five major motion pictures from 2017 to 2018. As a kid, hed harbored dreams of acting, and despite his dogged pursuit of a football career, the idea of becoming an actor was always in the background. Sep 17, 2020, 4:41 AM PDT. Despite being 36 years old and one of Hollywood's hottest commodities, Mr John David Washington is living back at home with his parents and sleeping in his childhood bedroom. Instead, he thought about helping others. All Rights Reserved. Since his high school days, things seemed to be on the perfect trajectory for John David Washington. Those who know Washington know his movie marathons. "Charlotte, that was my girl. And like many fans of his father, the young boy became inspired by Denzel's on-screen performances. WithTenet, Nolan is essentially modernizing the 007 formula, but avoiding the darker intensity of Daniel Craig's era. But after one of his first games, he woke up in his slim dorm-room bed to find his friends from the team howling with laughter. Hes just extraordinarily graceful.. If that's not all, he was also attending on a football scholarship. . Such is the indignity of life during a pandemic. And he sends the script and I read it, and Im like, well, This is cool.. At 38, he has already starred in films like Spike Lees true-crime drama BlacKkKlansman and Christopher Nolans mind-bending, time-twisting adventure Tenet.. It was about your child, protecting him, and it was so personal to you, and thats what you were crying about.. We all told him, you cant just step up in there and think its going to happen, Jackson recalled. He's dealing with promoting the Dec. 15 home release of Tenet, filming intimate movies with . In Tenet's world of espionage, names are more a hindrance than a help, and even "Neil" is probably a pseudonym (for Max?). That was it. According to John David, he was five years old at the time and remembered walking with his. Football was the best route to obtain my independence.". We werent cool enough, lol, his younger sister Olivia says in an email. Here's what else you need to know about the actorwho happens to be Denzel Washington's son.