For decades now, Denzel Washington has been one of the most adored and acclaimed actors on the planet. With depth and pathos to back up his charm and charisma, Washington redefined what it means to be a classical movie star.
Over the course of his storied career, Washington has worked with all kinds of renowned filmmakers. On top of his frequent collaborations with Spike Lee and Tony Scott, Washington has played roles for such directorial icons as Kenneth Branagh, Robert Zemeckis, and one half of the Coen brothers.
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis has helmed some of the most widely beloved movies ever made, from the time-travel romp Forrest Gump.
In 2012, Washington starred in Flight revolves around an alcoholic pilot (a role that earned Washington an Oscar nod), who tries to combat his addiction after narrowly avoiding an air disaster.
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh has recently received some of the best reviews of his career for his semi-autobiographical coming-of-age masterpiece Belfast. Belfast marked a return to form for Branagh after a couple of critically panned big-budget blockbusters.
Before he was a go-to filmmaker for studio tentpoles, Branagh was Much Ado About Nothing movie.
Antoine Fuqua
Usually, Best Actor awards are reserved for the performers behind the moral protagonists in their movies. But the Academy made an exception for Washington’s mesmerizing turn as a corrupt cop in Antoine Fuqua’s police thriller Training Day.
After the phenomenal success of Training Day, Washington reunited with Fuqua for a couple of other action-packed gems, including a remake of The Equalizer (and its sequel).
Alan J. Pakula
Alan J. Pakula is renowned for his Nixon-era “paranoia trilogy.” Comprised of Klute, The Parallax View, and All the President’s Men, this trilogy is made up of three tautly crafted thrillers that beautifully evoke the political division surrounding the Watergate scandal.
Pakula also directed one of the strongest performances of Meryl Streep’s career in the title role of Sophie’s Choice. Washington worked with Pakula on The Pelican Brief, one of the best John Grisham adaptations.
Norman Jewison
Norman Jewison has the impressive distinction of being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director three times in three different decades: for In the Heat of the Night in the 1960s, for Fiddler on the Roof in the 1970s, and for Moonstruck in the 1980s.
Washington collaborated with Jewison to bring the tragic story of Rubin Carter – a promising boxer whose career was destroyed by years of wrongful imprisonment – to the screen in The Hurricane.
Ridley Scott
From House of Gucci, it’s clear that the director is still going strong.
Washington was primarily known for working with Tony Scott, but he played real-life drug kingpin Frank Lucas in his brother Ridley’s critically acclaimed biopic American Gangster.
Jonathan Demme
Although he made his name with naturalistic comedies like Melvin and Howard and Married to the Mob, Jonathan Demme ed the pantheon of the world’s greatest filmmakers with his masterfully crafted crime thriller The Silence of the Lambs, the first (and, so far, only) horror movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Demme directed Washington in Philadelphia, the first major Hollywood movie to address the AIDS crisis, and a remake of the political actioner The Manchurian Candidate.
Joel Coen
Kenneth Branagh isn’t the only filmmaker who cast Washington in a Shakespeare adaptation. The actor recently teamed up with Joel Coen, branching out as a solo director without the contributions of his brother, for The Tragedy of Macbeth.
Together, the Coen brothers have helmed some of the most acclaimed movies ever made, from No Country for Old Men.
Tony Scott
Before legendary action director Tony Scott ed away in 2012, he regularly cast Washington to lead his movies. This marked one of the most iconic actor-director pairings of all time: Scott had a classical movie star to anchor his action films with depth and nuance, and Washington had an “actor’s director” who could bring out his best work.
Scott and Washington collaborated on all kinds of thrillers: submarine thriller Crimson Tide, revenge thriller Unstoppable (which ended up being Scott’s final film).
Spike Lee
In addition to Tony Scott, Washington has BlacKkKlansman.
Washington worked with Lee on the musical dramedy Mo’ Better Blues, the biopic Malcolm X (in which he gave one of his all-time greatest performances as the titular human rights activist), the sports movie He Got Game, and the bank heist thriller Inside Man.
