Denzel Washington revealed in a recently revealed interview that his infamous “whipping scene” in “Glory” made the actor he was accused of flogging reluctant to do the job.
Washington, 69, talked about the scene in a 1999 interview with “60 Minutes.” Audio of the interview was included in Tuesday’s episode “60 Minutes: A Second Look,” Podcast produced by the CBS News show that takes listeners into the “60 Minutes” vault.
This episode focusing on Washington is aptly titled “The Gladiator of Acting,” (Washington stars in “Gladiator II” which opens in theaters Friday), features excerpts from three interviews Washington has given to the program over the past 25 years.
In Washington’s first “60 Minutes” interview, he talked about Edward Zwick’s 1989 Civil War drama “Glory,” about the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first all-black regiment in the U.S. Army. In the film, Washington played an escaped slave, Private Silas Tripp, alongside Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, and Cary Elwes.
talking to The late “60 Minutes” broadcaster Ed BradleyWashington revealed how he prepared for the scene in which his character is whipped as he wanders off to find boots for other black soldiers.
“Basically what I did was I got down on my knees and communicated with the spirits of people who had been enslaved – who had been whipped. And when I came out, I was in charge,” he told Bradley.
“I said, ‘Journey was in charge.’ I said, ‘If this is what the trip is about, if this is what you guys call it, if this is what you call yourself, you want to do the trip, then come along with it.’
Regarding actor John Finn, who played Sergeant Major Mulcahy, the character who whipped Tripp, Washington recalled his adverse reaction to Finn’s marching orders.
“The guy who was killing me didn’t want to kill me,” Starr said in a “60 Minutes” interview. “I said, ‘Come on, do it.'”
Washington also recalled Matthew Broderick, who played Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the regiment’s commander, struggling during the scene.
“My attention remained on Matthew, and I also remember that he put his head [down]I said, ‘Don’t put your head down,'” Washington shared. Broderick’s character in the film was the one who ordered the flogging.
“You know, you want to whip me, bring it on,” Washington said. “That’s what came to me, that’s what I played.”
Washington won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the film. In his acceptance speechThe “Gladiator II” star paid tribute to the 54th Regiment, “the black soldiers who helped liberate this country.”
He won his second Oscar for Best Actor for his role in “Training Day” in 2002.
The actor also discussed filming this scene in 1989 new York Times profile.
“Whipping, it’s a very basic nightmare in American history, but it was harder for others than it was for me,” he said at the time. “They realized that was just the way it was. It made him sick. The guy who was doing the whipping went easy on me – I had to say to him, ‘It looks like you’re really doing it!'”
Zwick revealed in 2016 Advice While whipping Washington with a felt whip he told Finn: “Just don’t stop.”
The influence of this scene has continued over the years. In 2019, Michael B. Jordan told Washington That his scars in “Glory” inspired his character in “Black Panther.”
