To protect the sheep, you gotta catch the wolf. And it takes a wolf to catch a wolf, you understand?
When people protest and are upset with a movie, it becomes a big hit. They hated Passion of The Christ, it worked out pretty well for the box office. So let’s get that going.
Acting is just a way of making a living, the family is life.
A part of me still says, ‘Maybe, Denzel, you’re supposed to preach. Maybe you’re still compromising.’ I’ve had an opportunity to play great men and, through their words, to preach. I take what talent I’ve been given seriously, and I want to use it for good.
I’m a positive person, so I don’t get bogged down with it. If you’re expecting that, if you wall in that, if you practice that, then you’ll attract what you fear.
Don’t be afraid to fail big, to dream big.
You don’t pick black actors or black directors because they are black. You pick them because they are good. If you lend somebody 50 million dollars you want you’re money back. You don’t care if they are oppressed. You just want you’re money back.
People have said to me for a long time, “Man you’re funny.” I say, “Well, I’m quick,” but being funny on purpose, take after take – that’s why I said for me it was new territory, and so by improvising something might come out that might be good. And it’s film, so they can cut it if it isn’t.
I read a ton of scripts. I read a lot of scripts, and you read one, and first of all, you felt like you read it in 14 minutes, because you’re turning the pages so fast you can’t wait to see what’s going to happen.
Why do we close our eyes when we pray, cry, kiss, or dream? Because the most beautiful things in life are not seen but felt by the heart.
Put God first in everything you do.
Dreams without goals, are just dreams and they ultimately fuel disappointment.
The Bible says “faith without works is nothing” so destiny is great, fate is great, faith is great – but you still have to work at it. I don’t just sit at home and wait for it all to unfold.
Everybody has a job to do. There are people in Iraq on both sides of this war who do what they do for religious reasons, and they feel with God on their side. Some people are good at annihilating people. Maybe that’s their gift.
I think the bottom of the totem pole is African-American women, or women of colour. I think they get the least opportunities in Hollywood.
Thank God in advance for what’s already yours.
It’s simple: You get a part. You play a part. You play it well. You do your work and you go home. And what is wonderful about movies is that once they’re done, they belong to the people. Once you make it, it’s what they see. That’s where my head is at.
I had a lot of success from the start. I never really was tested for long periods of time. I got my first professional job while I was a senior in college. I signed with the William Morris Agency before I graduated.
Michelle Pfeiffer hasn’t been finding a lot of work recently because she doesn’t like what a woman her age is offered. That’s a real double standard. You get Sean Connery, who gets older and older, still playing opposite young ladies, but it doesn’t work the other way around.
I’ve worked with children all my life.