For most Hollywood actors, time on set filming a movie is typically spent reading lines, practicing scenes, getting wardrobe and makeup touched up, and grabbing a brief bite to eat before getting back in front of the camera.
But while filming his recent movie Roman J. Israel, Esq., Denzel Washington spent his time on set growing closer to God.
In an interview with The Gospel Herald, Washington reveals that he and the film’s director, Dan Gilroy, both prayed and read the Bible every day while filming.
“God put us together,” Washington said. “Dan and I have been prayer partners in this whole collaboration… We were on the same page from day one. We know Who we work for, and we’re just trying to do our best work.”
In the film, which also stars actors Colin Farrell and Carmen Ejogo, Washington plays a lawyer named Roman J. Israel, whose deeply-rooted beliefs are shaken when he learns some unsettling things about the law firm he worked for. It challenges his passion for helping the poor and disenfranchised and sets Israel on a journey of activism and justice.
Although the film is not “faith-based,” Gilroy made sure that it represented biblical themes like sacrifice, hope, honor, and faith in the unseen.
Washington and Gilroy’s daily commitment to the Word on set didn’t stop with them.
Referencing a text message in which fellow director of the film, Antoine Fuqua, had sent the two-time Academy Award winner with a brief devotional from Proverbs 10:28:
“Now he’s caught on and now every day he sends out a text of something he reads,” Washington said proudly of his colleague.
The devout Christian opened up to Access Hollywood earlier this year, sharing about the day a woman in his mother’s salon prophesied that he would preach to millions.
“I speak now and I’m doing what God told me to do from the beginning,” the 62-year-old assured. “It was prophesied that I would travel the world and preach to millions of people. It was prophesied when I was 20. I thought it was through my work and it has been.” He continues, “I’m all about the message, to the degree that I know it, and I’m unashamed and unafraid to share it!”
