Even Tenet star John David Washington had to focus intensely to figure out Christopher Nolan’s time-warping spy thriller but the pieces came together like an inverted bullet after JD spent a month at ‘Backwards Fighting School’.
“There was a lot of training that went into it - the physicality of it, learning how to fight backwards, blink backwards, walk backwards,” JD told The Daily Show. “So once I got that into my body, I felt it was helping me understand the plot more.”
Tenet involves a secret agent, an algorithm, and plans to start WWIII but if you’re still confused after watching Nolan explain the premise you’re not alone. JD watched Tenet with his family - actors Pauletta and Denzel Washington and his three siblings - then spent the entire weekend discussing it: “They loved it and there were some 'What the hell was going on?’ moments as well, but the family got it very quickly.”
John David Washington: From BlacKkKlansman to Tenet
Nolan earmarked John David as a rising star from the HBO series Ballers and knew JD was the right choice for Tenet’s ‘Protagonist’ after seeing Washington’s blockbuster BlacKkKlansman at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie received a 10-minute standing ovation and won the Festival’s Grand Prize. Nolan had no idea he was Denzel Washington’s son when he called to set up a meeting: "I just felt a sort of magnetism there.”
That acknowledgement - the ability to stand tall outside the shadow of his father - is something John David Washington has been fighting for since he was eight years old. At that point, Denzel was starring in Spike Lee’s iconic Malcolm X (1992) and he shot from Hollywood actor to superstar legend. Ironically, Malcolm X was also JD’s first film and almost ended his acting career before it even began.
John David Washington was nominated for a Golden Globe for BlacKkKlansman
John David Washington: ‘I am Malcolm X.’
John David always knew he wanted to act. As a young boy, he’d walk around New York’s Central Park with Denzel while his father prepared to star as Richard III in Shakespeare in the Park: “I used to love it when he would recite his lines.” William Shakespeare is still JD’s favorite writer.
Early on, JD knew there was something special about his parents. His mother, Pauletta, was a Juilliard-trained classical pianist and actress who earned more than Denzel when they met - she even paid for their first date. John David grew up with ‘Uncle Sam’ (Samuel L. Jackson) and Spike Lee. Morgan Freeman would drop by the house as well but refused to give JD an autograph, explaining that they were ‘family’.
It was Spike’s idea to give John David his first acting job. He is the first of the school children to stand at the end of the 1992 movie and announce: “I am Malcolm X.” Nothing was ever the same after that film. From that point onward, JD was no longer John David. He was ‘Denzel’s son’. The paranoia set in. He worried people only wanted to get close to him because of his famous father.
This story is part of our weekly briefing. Sign up to receive the FREE briefing to your inbox.
Even Tenet star John David Washington had to focus intensely to figure out Christopher Nolan’s time-warping spy thriller but the pieces came together like an inverted bullet after JD spent a month at ‘Backwards Fighting School’.
“There was a lot of training that went into it - the physicality of it, learning how to fight backwards, blink backwards, walk backwards,” JD told The Daily Show. “So once I got that into my body, I felt it was helping me understand the plot more.”
Tenet involves a secret agent, an algorithm, and plans to start WWIII but if you’re still confused after watching Nolan explain the premise you’re not alone. JD watched Tenet with his family - actors Pauletta and Denzel Washington and his three siblings - then spent the entire weekend discussing it: “They loved it and there were some 'What the hell was going on?’ moments as well, but the family got it very quickly.”
John David Washington: From BlacKkKlansman to Tenet
Nolan earmarked John David as a rising star from the HBO series Ballers and knew JD was the right choice for Tenet’s ‘Protagonist’ after seeing Washington’s blockbuster BlacKkKlansman at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie received a 10-minute standing ovation and won the Festival’s Grand Prize. Nolan had no idea he was Denzel Washington’s son when he called to set up a meeting: "I just felt a sort of magnetism there.”
That acknowledgement - the ability to stand tall outside the shadow of his father - is something John David Washington has been fighting for since he was eight years old. At that point, Denzel was starring in Spike Lee’s iconic Malcolm X (1992) and he shot from Hollywood actor to superstar legend. Ironically, Malcolm X was also JD’s first film and almost ended his acting career before it even began.
John David Washington was nominated for a Golden Globe for BlacKkKlansman
John David Washington: ‘I am Malcolm X.’
John David always knew he wanted to act. As a young boy, he’d walk around New York’s Central Park with Denzel while his father prepared to star as Richard III in Shakespeare in the Park: “I used to love it when he would recite his lines.” William Shakespeare is still JD’s favorite writer.
Early on, JD knew there was something special about his parents. His mother, Pauletta, was a Juilliard-trained classical pianist and actress who earned more than Denzel when they met - she even paid for their first date. John David grew up with ‘Uncle Sam’ (Samuel L. Jackson) and Spike Lee. Morgan Freeman would drop by the house as well but refused to give JD an autograph, explaining that they were ‘family’.
It was Spike’s idea to give John David his first acting job. He is the first of the school children to stand at the end of the 1992 movie and announce: “I am Malcolm X.” Nothing was ever the same after that film. From that point onward, JD was no longer John David. He was ‘Denzel’s son’. The paranoia set in. He worried people only wanted to get close to him because of his famous father.
John David Washington: from football to Hollywood
“As he [Denzel] started to become successful people started changing around me,” John David told journalists. “It gave me a little anxiety, resentment, anger. So all those emotions that were happening to me, I filtered them through this outlet.” Football became his savior.
JD won a football scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta. John David wanted to prove “this Valley kid could hang with the best of them in the South”. He thought football would change the narrative - he’d could hide his face in a helmet and carve out his own identity.
“It was my independence card,” John David later recalled. “I took it seriously. It was all I had.” In his freshman year, after a great game, the Atlanta Constitution referred to him as ‘Denzel’s son’ and blew his cover. “I realized then it was inescapable."
Denzel Washington and his eldest son, John David
Pro football and Training Days
By the time JD graduated and reached the pros - being drafted as a free agent by the St. Louis Rams, and having stints in the NFL Europe and the United Football League - Denzel Washington was in Hollywood picking up the Best Actor Oscar for Antoine Fuqua's crime thriller. Teammates asked JD to recite Training Day quotes in his dad’s voice.
John David’s football career ended in a snap when he ruptured his achilles tendon in 2013. It was a tough year - he was turning 30 and felt lost: "A part of me felt like it got shot and killed, it got assassinated. All of that was fear based, of not knowing if what I thought was my destiny.”
JD had worked behind the camera on The Book of Eli (2010) and now turned back to his first love, acting. He secretly auditioned and lied about his father, saying he worked in construction, law, or was in prison - anything to deflect questions. JD’s mother, Pauletta, a former actress who quit to raise her four children, secretly coached him and went over lines. John David has dyslexia so working on the scripts was a challenge.
JD Washington’s big break: HBO series Ballers
After nine auditions, JD was finally cast as Ricky in Ballers, the HBO series starring Dwayne Johnson as a retired NFL player. “There was no nepotism,” John David stresses when asked about his Hollywood connections. Denzel Washington didn’t even know what was going on until John David landed the part. His reaction? "There was disbelief. He kept asking questions like, 'For HBO? Like, Home Box Office Entertainment? Who? Really? He just kept asking questions."
While John David was earning his acting chops on Ballers, Spike Lee sent a text. "Yo, it's Spike. Call me." He wanted JD to read Ron Stallworth’s book, a true story about a Colorado cop who infiltrated a chapter of the KKK white supremacists. When he told Spike the story was incredible, Spike said: “All right. See you this summer.” John David was nominated for a Golden Globe, describing the accolade as “super emotional”.
As for Spike Lee, JD said: “Ladies and gentlemen, he’s at the top of his game.”
From there it was on to Tenet, which John David describes as the: “Globe-trotting spy thriller action-packed Nolan genre.” JD has tried his hand at other productions, including starring in Robert Redford’s The Old Man & the Gun and opposite his ‘Uncle Sam’ in Broadway’s The Piano Lesson as Boy Willie, the role Samuel L. Jackson originated 35 years earlier.
JD considers the theater to be a ‘full-contact sport’ and seeing his name on the marquee is a jolt: "It makes me nervous every time," Washington laughed. "I'm like, 'Oh, my God.'"
JD with his Tenet co-star Robert Pattinson who also features in The Batman
Denzel Washington’s acting advice
Has his father given him any acting advice? “My father talks about owning the space and believing what you are saying.” His mother has attended dozens of his Broadway shows and offers theater ‘notes’ afterward about his performance. Long-time friends Samuel L. Jackson and his wife, LaTanya, have also been supportive.
Friends notice JD is finally coming out of the shadows.
"Every year that I see him, he's more and more comfortable with himself and he's just excited for what's to come,” said one of JD’s friends, Zoë Kravitz, star of The Batman. “He's just blossomed, honestly, in the last five years."
What next? Would JD ever consider playing Denzel in a biopic? "Hell no," John David said. "He's DW."
This story is part of our weekly briefing. Sign up to receive the FREE briefing to your inbox.
Gadgets & Gifts
Put your spy skills to work with these fabulous choices from secret notepads & invisible inks to Hacker hoodies & high-tech handbags. We also have an exceptional range of rare spy books, including many signed first editions.
We all have valuable spy skills - your mission is to discover yours. See if you have what it takes to be a secret agent, with our authentic spy skills evaluation* developed by a former Head of Training at British Intelligence. It's FREE so share & compare with friends now!
