Denzel Washington has responded to his Gladiator II Oscars snub.
The 70-year-old plays Macrinus in the film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Normal People actor Paul Mescal. The long-awaited sequel was released to mixed reviews, but managed to scrape an Academy Award nomination for costume design.
Washington, has two Oscars to his name. In 1990, he won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Glory, and won the award for Best Actor for his performance in Training Day in 2002.
“Are you kidding me? Awww. Oh, I’m so upset,” he joked to The New York Times about not being nominated. “I’m happy for all that did, and I’m happy with what I’m doing.”
The industry veteran, has broken several records throughout his career and is currently the most nominated Black actor in history.
“Listen, I’ve been around too long,” he continued. “I’ve got — I don’t wanna say other fish to fry, but there’s a reality at this age. The beginning of wisdom is understanding. I’m getting wiser, working on talking less and learning to understand more — and that’s exciting.”
During promotion for the swords-and-sandals epic, Washington confused fans and the film’s team by suggesting that two kisses between male actors were cut from the movie.
“I actually kissed a man in the film but they took it out, they cut it, I think they got chicken,” he told Gayety.
“I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet. I killed him about five minutes later. It’s Gladiator. It’s the kiss of death.”
After the comments created uproar, Washington appeared to dilute his earlier quotes saying that the kiss had in fact just been a “peck”.
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“It really is much ado about nothing,” the actor told Variety on Monday (18 November). “They’re making more of it than it was. I kissed him on his hands, I gave him a peck and I killed him.”
But according to Scott, the kiss never took place at all.
“He kills the Senator, is that what you mean?” he told Variety when asked about the omission.
”Denzel said he kissed a man on the lips but it didn’t make the final cut,” said the interviewer.
“No, that’s bulls**t,” Scott insisted. “It was a senator.”
Meanwhile, another man off camera is heard saying, “We even went back and looked at the film, there was never (a gay kiss).”
Scott explained, “They never did. They acted the moment and it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen because they acted the moment as if he (did).”
Paul Mescal has also said that an improvised kiss between him and Pedro Pascal was removed from the movie.
