Denzel Washington becomes a martial-arts master in 'The Book of Eli'

Denzel Washington

On of the things that Denzel Washington really wants people to know about his action thriller "The Book of Eli" is he did all of his martial-arts stunts in the movie. All of them. No stunt doubles at all. The Oscar-winning actor made that quite clear (in a humorous, good way) at the Los Angeles press junket for "The Book of Eli," a post-apocalyptic film directed by twin brothers Allen Hughes and Albert Hughes. In the darkly intense film, Washington plays a mysterious and stoic character named Eli, who seems to be part missionary, part warrior.

Eli has a rare and valuable book that makes him the target of Carnegie (played by Gary Oldman), the menacing leader of a makeshift town. A young woman named Solara (played by Mila Kunis), who sees Carnegie as a father figure, escapes from Carnegie’s control and ends up becoming Eli’s friend and sidekick as they try to avoid being captured by Carnegie and his henchmen. During a roundtable interview with journalists, Washington revealed some behind-the-scenes stories about making "The Book of Eli."

What was it about "The Book of Eli" that made you want to not only star in it but also produce it?

Well, I don't know how it got to me being the producer, but I knew that there was a lot of work to be done on the script and I knew that I needed to help do it. So I just felt that in this particular story … I can't tell you why, because I really don’t remember. I can’t say, "Oh, it was one thing." But I just felt like I needed to be a little more hands-on on this one.

Denzel Washington in "The Book of Eli"

Do you think the religious aspects of "The Book of Eli" will be controversial?

I think there’s nothing wrong with the debate, conversation/argument. Imagine that! An idea, a thought, a point of view!

Did you draw inspiration from anything in your personal life to play Eli?

We did a lot of work, a lot of sessions with Allen [Hughes] and myself and my son [John David Washington, a co-producer of "The Book of Eli"] and the writer [Gary Whitta]. I walked through a lot, page by page. We did a lot of rewrites. I’m sure a lot of that has to do with my own personal experiences. I couldn’t give you one off the top of my head, but coming off of directing — and I know how to work as a director—I really want to flesh out and flush out the character. I play all the parts.

One day in one of the sessions, I just came up with the idea of Gary [Oldman’s] character saying, "Pray for me." I mean it, that wasn’t in the original script but it just made sense to me, that this guy at that moment when it seems like he’s got everything and he’s the most evil or whatever you want to call him, he says, "Pray for me." Does that make him more twisted? It just felt right that, "Oh yeah, by the way, between you and me, put in a word. I know I’m no good, but, you know ... "

Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis and Denzel Washington at Comic-Con International 2009 in San Diego

What was it like working with Gary Oldman?

I love working with Gary. Gary’s one of the best. We had a lot of fun. Sometimes we would do the whole scene as very British sort of [he says in British accent], "Well, sir. I’ll need that book from you now. Are you going to shoot me to take it?" [He laughs.] That kind of stuff, but obviously he’s one of the best of his generation, of our generation, so it was a real joy when he signed on. I was really excited about that.

Who picked the music that Eli listened to on his headphones?

That was Allen Hughes’ call, I think. My son had picked Incubus. If you see the movie, my head is bopping to a different beat than the [Al Green] music [on screen], because we were actually playing a song from Incubus.

Denzel Washington in "The Book of Eli"

Can you talk about the fight training you had to do for "The Book of Eli"?

["The Book of Eli" stunt coordinator] Jeff Imada, who is a disciple of ["The Book of Eli" martial-arts fight trainer] Danny Inosanto, who was a contemporary of Bruce Lee, trained me, and I worked with Danny a bit. I don't know, four, five, six months out, we started stretching and moving and doing stuff with our eyes closed and just getting into the whole vibe. Stretching is … when you get older, stretching is good … I don’t do it enough, but it helps a lot. Yeah, it’s good stuff.

Do you want to still keep up with martial arts?

No, of course not! Of course not! As I rub my knee … [He laughs.] There’s a part of me that wants to continue, but then there’s the actor part that also says, "OK, I’ve got to put that down. I’m not that guy now. I’ve got to play another guy." I think I’ve been in a hotel for almost 10 months this year.

Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes and Denzel Washington on the set of "The Book of Eli"

How was it working with two directors who happened to be twin brothers?

It was such a long process working on the material, I kind of got used to it, and you kind of see how they operate. Allen is more the "casting people" kind of guy. Albert was in New Mexico, with a room full of nine graphic designers, all that geek stuff; he’s not the communicator. The obviously know each other pretty well, so they didn’t seem to step on each other’s toes, but once you got the rhythm of it, once you knew who was responsible [for what], it wasn’t bad at all.

Do you see any similarity in the characters you tend to play?

Most of the characters I play, a lot of them, there’s been some kind of evolution, spiritual evolution. You look at Malcolm X, who went from hatred to a whole complete different doctrine, or Hurricane Carter. Even something as dark as "Training Day," the first thing I wrote on my script was, "The wages of sin is death." In the original version of "Training Day," they had [my character] dying in the smallest way, like you heard about it on TV. I said, "No, I can’t. In order for me to justify living in the worst way, I have to die in the worst way." So there was still, in my mind, a lesson to be learned there, or an evolution.

In the case of "Man on Fire," same kind of thing. A very dark man meets this young angel, who awakens him and he gives his life for her. So I guess there’s a somewhat similar theme here [in "The Book of Eli"] in that he has this mission, and this mission has turned him into this violent killing machine. And there’s no coincidence that at the moment when he’s about to chop whoever with this hatchet, this ax, this young girl says, "Stop!" Why was he sent through this town right before he makes it to where he’s supposed to go? He could have gone around. It would’ve been a whole different story. But in his spiritual evolution, this was a part of the process. He had to go down through the valley of the shadow of death.

Denzel Washington in "The Book of Eli"

Did you watch any other post-apocalyptic movies to prepare for "The Book of Eli"?

No. I usually take that approach, not to look at them, so whatever I come up with, at least in my mind I came up with it on my own. I didn’t want to start looking at other films and go, "Oh, I can’t do that." I don’t want to be hemmed in by the possibility of doing exactly what somebody else did, so maybe I have. I don't know, because I didn’t look.

Do you think "The Book of Eli" was influenced by "High Plains Drifter"?

There is the Western vibe of this. The writer definitely said that. In fact, earlier on it [the central bar in "The Book of Eli"] was like the saloon. We sort of de-Westernized it a bit, but it is the basic "loner comes to town" story, walks into the saloon, and kicks some butt.

Denzel Washington in "The Book of Eli"

Can you talk about the eyewear that Eli has in the movie?

We went through a million, gazillion glasses. We went to these Harley stores and were buying these goggles. We came up with what we called "the sun rules," because at first, [Eli] was the only one wearing glasses. I was like, "That’s not going to work." So we came up with the "sun rules": "Too much sun will burn your eyes, so everybody’s got to wear [sunglasses]." So we could take the smell off of [Eli]. Why is he walking around inside and outside [wearing sunglasses]?

Speaking of smell, Eli talks about "the smell of the apocalypse." What did it really smell like on set?

[He laughs.] Well, there was a lot of wind blowing. It was a trippy thing that happened, and it’s actually used in the movie. When I stick that sword in the first guy whose arm is cut off, I stuck that sword into him real easy, almost like a sacrifice. And the wind started blowing, and the sand blew over us and kept blowing right through the tunnel. It was like death or something. And I was like, "This is strange." And it just kind of blew through and I stopped. I said, "I think we’re on the right track here. I think we’re on the right track."

Denzel Washington in "The Book of Eli"

What was it like to see yourself kick butt on screen with the martial arts?

I was like, "Make sure they know it’s me!" There’s no stunt man. They said, "We’re going to do a silhouette." "Silhouette? As hard as I’m working, you’re not even going to show me after all that? Get closer or something! Make sure they know it’s me!" It is me. What I learned from the masters like Danny Inosanto is that he lets the energy come toward him. He’s 70-something years old and is so fluid. I said, "I didn’t want to be like Karate Man." [He makes karate noises.] I didn’t want to do any that, but just moving through people.

Do you care about what people will take away from your movies?

It depends on what they bring to it. It’s not for me to say. That’s the way I look at it. I don’t over-analyze: "I want them to get this!" Because it shouldn’t be as narrow as just the way I think. I know what my character wants from scene to scene or whatever, but I start thinking result terms — "I want you to get this from it" — then I might start showing you something to get the result I want, and maybe I’m not right.

Denzel Washington and Mila Kunis in "The Book of Eli"

What was it like working with Mila Kunis? Did you two feel the same way about "The Book of Eli"?

She’s a sweetheart! I hope we do. I think we do. We had the same fundamental task at hand.

"The Book of Eli" was shot chronologically. How did you feel about that?

Close to it [chronologically]. That’s always nice. It’s not usually the case. I don’t know who came up with that; maybe the Hughes brothers did. They wanted to, and that’s great. I’m glad we did.