John David Washington is a Star in His Own Right

In the last few years, John David Washington has been catapulted into headline news. With an appearance reel consisting of films such as the wildly raved-about crime drama, BlacKkKlansman and the tantalizing action-thriller, Tenet, Washington has demanded public attention in one movie or another. He is making a name for himself by diverging from beneath the shadowy hood of his father’s work and carving out his own image. The question is – how did he achieve acting success so quickly?

John David Washington first stepped into the limelight in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, in which his father, Denzel Washington, starred as the titular role. John, aged just seven, played a student in a classroom. Shortly after, he put his acting career to rest and focused on college and football. Washington attended Morehouse College and became a successful football star, holding the school record in rushing with 1,198 yards. After college, he was drafted into the St. Louis Rams practice squad and played in NFL Europe for the Rhein Fire in 2007. For the next two years, he drifted around teams, sustaining injuries but still attempting to further his football career. Eventually, it was a torn Achilles tendon that shattered all hopes for his football fantasy.

After Washington’s semi-successful career in sport, he was cast in HBO’s Ballers as Ricky Jerret, an NFL player. It appears that he still clung onto his own NFL dreams; if he couldn’t play the actual sport, acting the sport appeared to be the next best option. When auditioning for roles, it seemed that, for Washington, deferring from the legacy of his father was the best course of action. In an interview with Mr Porter, Washington revealed that he would frequently lie about the identity of his father. He would tell casting directors that his father was “a construction worker or in jail, just to get a sense of normalcy.” Like many actors with famous parents, they must make a name for themselves based on their own talents and not ride the influence of their parents. Washington explained that the moment people were aware of his true parentage, they would treat him differently. It makes sense, then, that he would construct such elaborate lies to let his talent speak for itself – and it did exactly that. Shortly after the conclusion of the fifth season of Ballers, Washington secured several high-profile acting roles.

There is no denying that Washington is a talented actor; watch any film in his filmography and that much is obvious. Film directors appear to be well aware of this fact too. Shortly after Washington’s transition back to acting, he landed the role of real-life African American police officer, Ron Stallworth, in Spike Lee’s biographical crime drama, BlacKkKlansman. As it happens, it seems Washington owes a lot of his role-landings to Lee – from The Old Man & The Gun to Tenet – a director who always appears to have had a hand in persuading directors to cast him.

It must be immensely ego-boosting for a directing legend such as Spike Lee to think so highly of you and your work that you are a regular, personal casting recommendation. For Washington, this is his reality. When it came to casting BlacKkKlansman, there was no audition, merely a message reading, “Hey, this is Spike, call me”, and the rest was history. Washington’s modesty appears to be his strong suit. In an interview for Vulture, when questioned on what he thought Lee saw in him to cast him without audition, Washington humbly replied, “you’ll have to ask Spike”, while shrugging his shoulders casually. His unassuming, friendly demeanour only goes further in highlighting the strength of his acting abilities, and lays the groundwork for more young actors like Washington in Hollywood.

BlacKkKlansman was greeted with standing ovations during its premiere at Cannes Film Festival in May 2018, much to Washington’s surprise; he had “prepared for the worst.” It was here that the young actor caught director Christopher Nolan’s eye and established his interest in casting Washington for his upcoming science-fiction thriller, Tenet. Lee suspected as much, and the pair discussed the whole affair in a mutual Esquire interview: Lee thanked Nolan for “casting [Washington], for hoisting him into the stratosphere.” He then questioned the Tenet director as to whether he decided that he was “going to cast John David Washington at the world premiere of BlacKkKlansman“, to which Nolan confirmed Lee’s theory: “in the first conversation [with Washington], he felt like somebody on the cusp of really great things.”

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Tenet premiered in cinemas in August, and although it was one of the only films lucky enough to be released this year given the pandemic, many would argue that it was also one of the best. Tenet galvanised audiences to the edge of their seats, leaving them bewildered and excited from start to finish. The best way to describe Tenet is simply as an adrenaline rush; a complex puzzle that unfolds as the film progresses. Once you begin to understand one part of the film, Nolan throws another curveball to induce further complication. Washington starred alongside Robert Pattinson as an unnamed CIA agent labelled the ‘Protagonist’, who exploits the construct of time and space to avert war. Washington plays his part with nuance and confidence, his chilling American swagger creating an interesting, complex character to follow for the two-hour journey. A role such as this so early on in his career –within a Christopher Nolan film, no less – is huge, and it positions him on a path for future box-office success.

It is important not to forget that despite Washington’s commercial success, he is still fairly new in the game and so learning with each experience. In a recent interview with Cinema Blend, Washington quite adorably fanboys over his experience working with Michael Caine in a Tenet scene. He gushes to the interviewer, proclaiming that he ”felt like [he] was getting knighted that day. That was one of the greatest days of [his] career.” It’s clear that Washington still manages to get starstruck when working with household names within the film industry, which is slightly ironic considering his star-studded family tree but once again proof of his charming, modest nature. Later in the interview, Washington also recalls watching Robert Redford film scenes in their shared movie, The Old Man & the Gun, in which he stars as Lieutenant Kelley. He explains that “any time I get to be in the presence of legends [like Redford] I soak it all up for sure.”

As 2020 finally draws to a close, Washington has an interesting assembly of movies to be released. The most notable appearance being his role as filmmaker Malcolm in the upcoming Netflix original, Malcolm & Marie. Washington stars alongside Zendaya, another amazing young artist who we’ve also dedicated an article to, as Marie. The film pivots around the central plot of the couple returning home from a movie premiere and explores their past experiences. The project was filmed in secret under COVID-19 regulations and is set to premiere February 5th next year.

With Washington’s increasingly impressive film portfolio at such a young age, it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see him become a phenomenon like his father. What is abundantly clear, though, is that Washington deserves all his success as a talented actor in his own right. He is on the rise – and is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

We take a look at why Damson Idris, another talented young actor, is taking the industry by storm.