Powerful words

Denzel Washington steps to the podium, goes behind the camera

INTERVIEW. In his latest film, “The Great Debaters,” Denzel Washington stepped behind the camera to make the inspirational biopic about Professor Melvin Tolson, the debate coach at a small Southern black college who led his inexperienced team to the national championship during the Great Depression. We talked to the two-time Academy Award-winning actor — who also plays Tolson in the picture — about acting, directing and being a role model.
 
“The Great Debaters” marks your second foray into directing. What do you think about this new field?
I have a new career. In the last seven years, I’ve directed two films, and I’m passionate about that. To get the opportunity to do that and to enjoy a measure of success. And not just success, but to hear people respond in a positive way to the film, is a great feeling for me.

What sold you on the script of “The Great Debaters”?
It was a great read on many levels. I think it’s a really wonderful story about language and education. I also look upon it as a sports movie. They’re the little train that could, and they go up against Goliath. And it’s set at a time in our country when there was a lot of turmoil and racism and poverty and the Depression. But they came through all of that and were able to find a way to focus their energy, come together as a unit and go up against the big boys and knock ’em off the pedestal.   
  
Do you think the old-fashioned values that Melvin Tolson instilled in his students will be lost on the youth of today?
In my opinion, we live like a fast-food society. Get there quick. Do it fast. Everything is fast, fast, fast. But faster is not necessarily better. There’s a process to reaching a goal, and, unfortunately, a lot of kids find that out when it’s too late. In many ways, in our society, it’s our responsibility, if not fault, that we’ve sold our kids a bill of goods for a dollar, basically. I think the way that these young people are being taught by Tolson in “The Great Debaters” is still going on now, as well. I don’t know that it’s always news. It’s not always popular, but it is effective. 

What do you think of today’s black kids having higher high-school dropout rates than those of a generation ago?
I’m a parent. I think we’re responsible for the problems that young people have. I believe that. I don’t blame them for any of it. I blame us for what we haven’t done as mothers and fathers, not sticking together as a unit. I think we’ve done a terrible job, a shameful job. So, I try to take advantage of every opportunity I get to share what I know with young people.

Is that why you agreed to star in, as well as direct, the film?
In the movie, my character says, “You do what you have to do, so that you can do what you want to do.” What I wanted to do was direct, so what I had to do was act in order to do that. Life does not work the other way around. As I tell my kids, “You pay now, or you pay later, but you gotta pay.”