There’s no denying that Denzel Washington is one of the best actors on the planet, and the best Denzel Washington movies span genres and decades. But as well as knowing everything there is to know about the craft of acting, he has also learned some more violent lessons.
Washington has made some of the best action movies on screens. And it was on the first movie in the Equalizer franchise with director Antoine Fuqua that Denzel Washington learned some special tricks from experts in the world of hand-to-hand combat.
While promoting The Equalizer 3, The Guardian asked Washington about using pens in a violent scenario. Surprisingly, the star had a story ready to go about stationery-based brutality.
He said: “We had this ex-Navy Seal guy training us. They do use pens and stuff. Eyeglasses is a big one. You fold that thing up and jab right in the corner of the eye, that’s a real weapon.”
Fuqua, who was also present for the interview, added: “Self preservation. You’re in a room, you gotta go to war, you don’t have a gun. You do what you gotta do.”
Certainly, McCall has used his fair share of improvised weaponry throughout the best movies in the Equalizer franchise.
For more about Denzel, find out about how he improvised Training Day’s best scene and the two rules he had for when he became famous.