Denzel Washington Plans to Star in OTHELLO Film Before Retirement

Denzel Washington is only a few movies away from retiring. On a recent visit to Australia's Today Show to promote Gladiator II, the acting legend shared some of his next films, which include at least one big-screen Shakespeare adaptation. 

"I'm only interested in working with the best. I don't know how many more films I'm going to make- probably not that many," Washington admitted. The actor's next projects include a part in a Steve McQueen film, Black Panther 3, a film version of Othello, and King Lear. It is unclear if Lear will be for the stage or screen. After all of these are completed, Washington says he will retire. In 2025, the actor will return to Broadway in the title role of Othello, a character he previously played at 22 years old. 

In addition to his acting, Washington has taken a producing role in the movie adaptations of August Wilson's American Century Cycle. Fences, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and The Piano Lesson have already made their way to the screen with Joe Turner's Come and Gone is the next play to be adapted. 

Denzel Washington is the most lauded stage and screen actor of his generation. His unforgettable performances have garnered him two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and countless other awards. He received his first Academy Award for the historical war drama Glory (1989) and his second for the crime drama Training Day (2001). In addition, he has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Cry Freedom (1987), Malcolm X (1992), The Hurricane (1999), Flight (2012), and August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Fences, in which he reprised his Tony Award-winning role opposite Viola Davis. 

Washington will star as ‘Othello,’ the noble Moor of Venice and commanding warrior-general this spring. Opposite him, Tony and Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal portrays ‘Iago,’ the ambitious lieutenant and masterful manipulator. 

Spurned for promotion, Iago’s relentless quest for vengeance against Othello and his wife, Desdemona (portrayed by Molly Osborne), plunges them into a shocking web of deception and betrayal.

William Shakespeare’s Othello, directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon, will be the first time the Bard’s epic tale of betrayal and vengeance will be on Broadway in over 40 years. The production will play a strictly limited 15-week engagement.

Photos courtesy of A24/Apple