The 69-year-old Oscar-winning actor and director recently suggested that there are “very few films” left that truly capture his interest.
In an interview about his role in Ridley Scott’s upcoming Gladiator II, Washington shared his thoughts on the future of his career.
“There are very few films left for me to make that I’m interested in, and I have to be inspired by the filmmaker, and I was tremendously inspired by Ridley,” Washington told.
Reflecting on his previous collaboration with Scott, who is now 86, Washington noted their successful partnership on 2007’s American Gangster.
He praised Scott as a director who remains “excited about life and his next film,” adding, “He’s an inspiration. We should all want to feel like that at 86.”
In Gladiator II, Washington joins a star-studded cast, including Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, and Connie Nielsen. He plays Macrinus, a wealthy arms dealer who “wants to be Emperor and he’s willing to do anything to get there,” he explained.
The film is the highly anticipated sequel to Scott’s 2000 Oscar-winning Gladiator, which starred Russell Crowe.
While Washington has hinted that there are only a few films left that might inspire him, he has not publicly discussed retiring from acting.
Along with Gladiator II, his upcoming projects include the crime thriller High and Low and an untitled film reuniting him with Training Day and The Equalizer director Antoine Fuqua.
In spring 2025, Washington will return to Broadway for the sixth time, starring alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in a production of William Shakespeare’s Othello.
Washington’s illustrious career includes 10 Oscar nominations, with two wins for 1989’s Glory and 2001’s Training Day.
As a director, he has helmed four feature films and produced numerous others, including the August Wilson screen adaptations Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and the upcoming The Piano Lesson, starring his son John David Washington and directed by his other son, Malcolm Washington.
In Gladiator II, Washington’s character Macrinus is described by Scott as “pretty f—ing cruel” to those fighting for their lives in Rome’s Colosseum, as he revealed in July.
Speaking at the red carpet for Alien: Romulus on August 12, Scott shared that the sequel is “as good as the first one,” clarifying, “I didn’t say better. It’s as good.”
Gladiator II, from Paramount Pictures, is set to hit theaters on November 22.
