Denzel Washington apologised to director Ryan Coogler for spilling he had joined the third Black Panther movie. The 69-year-old actor revealed he would be part of the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) blockbuster last month in what will be one of his final projects before he retires, and now Washington has admitted he called the Creed filmmaker, 38, to say he was sorry for talking about his involvement in the flick before it was officially confirmed.
During an appearance on Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast, he said: “Ryan’s a genius. I called him and apologised for talking about the movie, and right there sitting with him was his beautiful wife.
“He’s still Ryan, humble and full of ideas. Whatever he writes, I’ll read.”
The film will follow on from 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – which itself is a sequel to Black Panther from 2018. Washington said last month that the upcoming movie would be one of a handful of roles he would take on before he ends an acting career which has spanned four decades.
He told Australia’s Today show: “At this point in my career, I’m only interested in working with the best, I don’t know how many more films I will make, probably not that many. I want to do things that I haven’t done.”
Sharing the roles he has lined up before waving goodbye to Hollywood for good, he teased: “I played Othello at 22, I’m now going to play it at 70. After that, I’m playing Hannibal. After that, I’ve been talking with Steve McQueen about a film.
“After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther. After that, I’m gonna do the film Othello. After that I’m gonna do King Lear. After that, I’m gonna retire.”
While the Gladiator II star has laid out his plans for his final projects, Washington previously revealed he would be involved in the fourth and fifth entries in his action series The Equalizer.
Speaking with Esquire magazine last month, he said: “I told them I would do another Equalizer, and we’re doing four and five. More people are happy about that – people love those daggone Equalizers.”
The Training Day star added the franchise was as much for audiences as it was for him, because he loved getting the chance to be an action hero.
He added: “But I’ve come to realise that the Equalizer films are for me, too, because they’re for the people. They want me to go get the bad guys: ‘We can’t get them, so you go get them.’ And I say, ‘Okay, I’ll get them! Just wait right there. I’ll be right back!'”
