Though Denzel Washington has played a myriad of roles and done a lot of things onscreen, he’s never played a gay character. But it appears he almost did in “Gladiator II.”
Speaking to Gayety during the U.K red carpet premiere of the aforementioned film on Wednesday, the veteran actor was asked “how gay” the Roman Empire was. That’s when he revealed that a certain scene—in which he locked lips with another man—was almost in the movie, but it was cut from the final product.
“I actually kissed a man in the film but they took it out, they cut it, I think they got chicken. I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet. I killed him about five minutes later. It’s “Gladiator.” It’s the kiss of death,” Washington said.
Washington’s seemingly positive revelation is in stark contrast to his feelings about playing a gay role years ago as evidenced by his words of advice he gave to fellow veteran actor Will Smith back in the 90s.
As noted by Entertainment Weekly, Smith revealed that it was the “Malcolm X” star who told him not to kiss another man back when he was filming the 1993 hit, “Six Degrees of Separation.” While it angered the director at the time, Smith was able to skirt his way out of it by saying that it was Washington who gave him the advice. Years later though, Smith would later share that he was “emotionally immature” for making that decision.
Additionally, yhis isn’t the first time talk of a cut kiss as it relates to this film has made headlines. Back in late October, the film’s other stars, namely Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal revealed to Entertainment Weekly that there was a forehead kiss shared between their two characters that also didn’t make it to final cut of the film.
“There was a moment when we were rehearsing my fight scene with Pedro, and I had an idea towards the end of the scene to kiss Pedro on the forehead. I did it in one of the takes, and then we’re getting the radio messages back to Ridley [Scott, the director, in video village], and I was like, ‘Ridley: Kiss on the forehead, did you like it? Yay or nay?’ There was radio silence for a second. His radio crackles back, and [Ridley] goes, ‘I’m afraid I did.’”
Cut scenes aside, it seems like Washington and the rest of the cast were in good spirits on Wednesday as evidenced by a fun interaction between the “American Gangster” star and “The Last of Us” star. In it, Washington can be seen interrupting Pascal’s interview and giving him praise for his onscreen talents and offscreen integrity.
“Good man, great actor,” Washington said before inviting him over to his house in L.A. for tea on a later date.
“Gladiator II” hits theaters Nov. 22.