Will It Be Denzel's Day?

At a time when comedian Eddie Murphy wasn't just the biggest African-American star but the biggest box-office draw, period, Washington began amassing roles that made race the focal point, not the punch line. "I remember seeing Denzel on a studio lot one time and stopping to chat," says Poitier from his Los Angeles home. "I pulled him aside and told him something that I know he already knew, but I needed to say it anyway. I told him he had an amazing gift and with that gift came responsibility. Never lose sight of that.'' Poitier never could. From his role as the Southern convict in "The Defiant Ones,'' to his turn as the overachieving black doctor hoping to win his prospective in-laws' approval in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,'' Poitier carried the burden of an entire race on his shoulders. "I had the responsibility to do a certain type of film because of the generation I was in and because of where we were as a people and as a country during those times," says Poitier, 75, who will be receiving an honorary Oscar this year. "We were considered less than human during those times, half a human being. There were no other options for me."

Washington's struggle might not include having to prove that blacks are full human beings, but he certainly faces the challenge of making them equal. Though the actor has been one of the industry's most highly recognized stars for years, his salary has only just begun to the match those of his white peers. And the line for platinum-plate roles still has Tom, Tom and Russell at the head of the queue. "Most roles are written disproportionately for white actors, and that's the truth of the matter,'' says Ed Zwick, who directed Washington in "Glory,'' "Courage Under Fire" and "The Siege.'' "Denzel isn't going to get the roles that Russell Crowe gets. He can't be in 'The Insider' or 'Gladiator,' and that's very limiting to an actor like him. But it's also what makes his career so astonishing, because he has done so remarkably well with those limitations.''

Privately, several producers and directors will tell you that Washington's name comes up for a lot of big-budget, Oscar-worthy flicks, but that he's often nixed when it comes time to consider how to round out the cast of characters: add a black wife and black supporting characters for Denzel, and you wind up with a "black" movie, the fuzzy logic goes. Director Reginald Hudlin ("Boomerang" and "House Party") says he has sat in a number of meetings where black actors are considered for roles, but then lesser-known white actors get the part. "It's not racism. Really, most people aren't racist. But a lot of people are prejudiced, and that includes Hollywood," he says. "Racism is 'I hate niggers,' and prejudice is not being able to see people in different roles or places. Or worst, not thinking about them at all. That's what Hollywood does.''

On the other hand, studios have been known to entirely retool a film to make room for Washington's talent, as happened most recently with "John Q." The transformation isn't always a smooth one, however. When Julia Roberts was tapped by Warner Bros. to play the lead in 1993's "The Pelican Brief,'' she told the movie's director, the late Alan Pakula, exactly who she wanted her costar to be: Denzel. What happened after that is a matter of some debate, but the next anyone knew, reports were flying that the studio was offering Washington his entire salary to leave the project. According to several people who worked on the film, author John Grisham hadn't envisioned the leading man in his novel as black, and was demanding that Washington be removed. "He saw himself in the role, and obviously I'm not anything like him in looks or otherwise. I wasn't what he wanted, and that was made clear," Washington says. That's not Grisham's recollection. "Alan Pakula called me about casting and said they were considering Denzel. I said fine,'' is all the author will say about "Pelican Brief." (As to Will Smith's recent allegation that Grisham didn't want him for the forthcoming "Runaway Jury" because he is black, Grisham did not comment.)

Whatever the impetus for the "Pelican Brief" drama, Roberts stepped in to settle things. "I had suggested him from the beginning, and he did amazing things with a character that didn't look like much on paper. What more could you want?'' What more--how about a kiss? Much has been made of the fact that Washington, named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" for 1996, never kissed Roberts on screen. But it's not because Roberts, Warner Bros. or even Grisham didn't want him to. "I have taken so much s--t over the years about not kissing Denzel in that film," Roberts says. "Don't I have a pulse? Of course I wanted to kiss Denzel. It was his idea to take the damn scenes out."

Washington says there were several reasons the interracial love scenes were deleted, and one was indeed the fear of offending some moviegoers--and the viewers he worried about crossing were black women. Washington learned full well the danger of stepping over that line during test screenings of 1989's "The Mighty Quinn," where an on-screen kiss with Mimi Rogers drew loud boos from the black women in the audience. Washington had the studio delete the kiss, and decided that he wouldn't be doing many love films at all, particularly since Hollywood seemed to show no interest in black love stories. "Black women are not often seen as objects of desire on film. They have always been my core audience," he says.