Denzel Washington was a standout in Gladiator 2 as the power-hungry Macrinus, but despite some early awards buzz, the actor has not been nominated for the Oscars 2025. Not that he cares much about that, though.
"I was sitting there smiling, going: Look at you. On the day you didn't get a nomination for an Oscar, you're working on Othello on Broadway. Are you kidding me?", he said in a recent interview with The New York Times. The actor is playing the lead in a new production of Othello that goes into previews on February 24, with Jake Gyllenhaal co-starring as Iago.
"'Awww. Oh, I'm so upset'. Listen, I've been around too long. I'm getting wiser, working on talking less and learning to understand more — and that's exciting," he added.
The supporting actors nominated for this year's Academy Awards are Yura Borisov for Anora, Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain, Edward Norton for A Complete Unknown, Guy Pearce for The Brutalist, and Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice.
Washington was also surprisingly snubbed for this year's BAFTAs, but he did received nominations for Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and the Satellite Awards.
Ridley Scott's sequel to Gladiator, which follows Lucius' story decades after Maximus' death, received mixed reviews when it was released last November. However, critics agreed that Denzel Washington stole every scene he was in. The movie also starred Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, and Fred Hechinger, as well as Connie Nielsen reprising her role of Lucilla from the first movie.
During the press tour for the movie, Washington revealed he has a list of projects he will be working on in the next few years before he retires from acting. The list includes roles in Ryan Coogler's Black Panther 3, Spike Lee’s High N Low, Antoine Fuqua’s Hannibal, a Steve McQueen movie, and an Othello adaptation.
For more, check out our list of upcoming movies in 2025.
