Denzel Washington Hints at Possible Retirement, “There Are Very Few Films Left for Me”

Denzel Washington is interested in fewer and fewer roles as time goes on, and he really has to be inspired by the filmmaker, according to a new interview in Empire. The Academy Award-winning actor, who next appears in Gladiator II, said that it was the idea of working with Ridley Scott again that inspired him to take the job — something you can see in some of his other recent moves, like frequently reteaming with Antoine Fuqua after the pair connected on Training Day. The star stopped short of saying that he is planning to step away from acting, but obviously it isn’t hard to understand why somebody might slow down at 69 years old.

Washington just wrapped about a decade of work on The Equalizer films, doing some pretty physical work and making some of his most commercially-successful movies in years. Gladiator II is similarly expected to be a big box office hit.

“There are very few films left for me to make that I’m interested in, and I have to be inspired by the filmmaker, and I was tremendously inspired by Ridley,” Washington told Empire magazine. “We had a great go-round the first go-round [on American Gangster], and here we are.”

Washington will play Macrinus in the film, a real historical figure, but as with anyone in the Gladiator films, the history being explored here will have little, if any, connection to real life.

“Denzel is an arms dealer who supplies food for the armies in Europe, supplies wine and oil, makes steel, makes spears, weapons, cannons, and catapults,” Scott told Vanity Fair. “So he is a very wealthy man. Instead of having a stable of racehorses, he has a stable of gladiators “He’s beautiful. He drives a golden Ferrari. I got him a gold-plated chariot.”

What Is Gladiator II About?

In Gladiator 2, Lucius—the grandson of Rome’s former emperor Marcus Aurelius and son of Lucilla—lives with his wife and child in Numidia. Roman soldiers led by general Marcus Acacius invade, forcing Lucius into slavery. Inspired by the story of Maximus, Lucius resolves to fight as a gladiator while opposing the rule of the young emperors Caracalla and Geta. Gladiator 2 will also star Joseph Quinn, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, May Calamawy, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, Peter Mensah, and Matt Lucas. The film is directed by Ridley Scott, off of a script from David Scarpa. Russell Crowe, who originally starred as Maximus in the first Gladiator, has repeatedly expressed that he is not involved with the new sequel.

Gladiator 2 will be released exclusively in theaters on November 22nd.