It’s going to be a huge week in the Washington household. Silver screen icon Denzel Washington is generating waves of buzz – and an expected amount of awards attention – for his performance as Macrinus in Sir Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2. At the same time, Denzel’s sons Malcolm Washington and John David Washington are seeing their own Oscar player, The Piano Lesson, arriving on Netflix after a limited theatrical run. Malcolm directs the adaptation of the Tony nominated August Wilson play. John David stars in the movie. And Denzel produces it.
So yeah, a massive weekend for the Washingtons.
WIth John David Washington making the press rounds on behalf of The Piano Lesson, however, he has been getting asked questions about some of his previous roles, notably two films that got buried under the limited release practices affected by the COVID pandemic. During that era, John David appeared in both The Creator and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. The films received heaps of critical praise. But they faced an uncertain audience who didn’t want to sit in a theater and watch a movie with strangers. Understandable.
More people found Tenet on home video and streaming. And the film’s highlights continue to be celebrated. One of those moments happens to be John David Washington’s “hot sauce” joke when he enters a kitchen and prepares to fight a room filled with thugs. It played like this.
When John David came on CinemaBlend’s official ReelBlend podcast, he opened up about how that famous line came together, and Nolan’s amazing response to it. Washington told ReelBlend:
He was talking about, ‘We need something there before I get hit, and we start the action sequence.’ I was like, ‘OK.’ At first, the scene was set up where there's people running – like, staff members were running out of the kitchen. That’s how it was initially set up. I saw a couple of cooks, and the maitre d. I was like, ‘I ordered my hot sauce an hour ago!’ But I did it really broadly. And (Nolan) started busting out laughing. And Jackson Spidell, who's also our fight coordinator, he started laughing. I got two laughs! After the take, I was like, ‘I'm sorry.’ And he was like, ‘No, no, no! Let's do another one. Let's do a tamer version, but keep the line.’ And so we worked it. But I love that. He embraced it.
That’s so cool to hear. Christopher Nolan’s movies don’t leave a lot of room for improvisation. Specifically Tenet, which is an air-tight puzzle that needs every piece to snap cleanly into place. As John David Washington went on to explain to ReelBlend:
He's so specific with his writing and stuff. But you'd be surprised. Chris, at least in my experience, embraced doing takes differently every time, embraced finding the character. He's hiring you because he knows what you'll bring to the character. And that's what it felt like with a lot of these giants I've been able to work with.
Take a look at John David’s career. He just turned 40, and to date, he has been able to work with Christopher Nolan, Spike Lee, David O. Russell, David Lowery, Sam Levinson, and his brother Malcolm. He’s eager to learn, to perfect his craft, and to grow. You can see his latest movie, The Piano Lesson, if you have a Netflix subscription. And click here to listen to our complete interview with John David, as well as reviews for both Wicked and Gladiator 2.
