By the late '90s, Denzel Washington had seemingly done it all. After his starring role in arguably the best Civil War movie ever made, 1989's Glory. earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, he earned another Academy Award nomination for his performance in Malcolm X in 1992 and The Hurricane in 1999. able to bring his effortless charisma to less cerebral offerings such as action thriller Crimson Tide and crime drama The Bone Collector.

But by the turn of the millennium there was still one thing Denzel had never done: play a bad guy. The actor was so naturally magnetic that it seems Hollywood never thought to waste that kind of charm on a villain, and so Denzel remained a good guy until 2001. win, but it will also mark his transition to playing bad guys—and what a debut it was.

"Training Day" was written by David Ayer, who injected his real-life experiences growing up in the underprivileged neighborhoods of Los Angeles into the script. Director Antoine Fuqua took things a step further in that regard, using real gangs and real locations in South Los Angeles to film the film about a corrupt LAPD narcotics officer who takes a rookie cop on an evaluation day. But while Ayer and Fuqua's contributions were integral to creating what remains one of the best crime thrillers of the era, it was Denzel's unflinching commitment to his role and the ease with which he turned his charisma to create one of the great villains. on the screen. , which truly made Training Day both a modern classic and one of the Denzel's Most Repeated Movies.

How did the man make that transition so seamlessly? A lot of things, sure, but it seemed to start with a single phrase that he wrote on his copy of the Training Day script.

When Denzel Washington was cast in Training Day, which created no shortage of controversy. The concern among groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was that after building up more than a decade of goodwill playing relatable, morally upright characters, Denzel was going to waste it all playing a truly repulsive character in the form of an LAPD detective. Alonzo Harris. But they needn't have worried, because as despicable as Alonzo was in Denzel's hands, he was also eminently watchable, to the point where his charm often distracted from his corrupt dealings.

In the film, Alonzo picks up Ethan Hawke's Jake Hoyt for the day while running his narcotics operation. As the film continues, Alonzo uncovers the depths of his corruption, forcing Jake to confront the degradation at the core of the very force he works for. It all ends with an all-time classic scene in which Denzel's cop confronts Jake and an entire neighborhood of gang members seeking answers about his shady dealings and their repercussions.

By all accounts, Denzel had an absolute ball playing Alonzo, improvising throughout the shoot and bringing a magnetism that only he could achieve. But it seems the actor never forgot how serious a story he was telling. Talking to The morning call back in 2021, he recalled writing a single, decidedly dark line on his copy of the Training Day script that unlocked the entire film for him. As Washington explained to the media:

"The first thing I wrote down on my screenplay was 'The wages of sin is death,' and that's the movie for me." Once I put that on the page, I felt I could be as mean as I wanted. because I knew what was coming, and he gets what he deserves.

The phrase "For the wages of sin is death" comes from the beginning of the Bible verse Romans 6:23, which reads in its entirety "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." It refers to the idea that wages are something provided to an individual who has worked for them, and in this case, sin is said to result in an individual receiving death as his payment.

After reading the full script for Training Day, Denzel Washington realized that the film was in no way trying to glorify Alonzo's actions. It was the story of someone who thought they had the system figured out enough to play it to their advantage, but who couldn't escape the cosmic justice that came upon them as a result of all the evil deeds they had done.

For an actor who has never played a villain before, you have to admire Denzel's ability to get to the heart of the character so shortly before filming begins. The phrase he wrote on his script is not an indictment of Alonzo himself, but an acknowledgment of how the character went too far and could not escape the cosmic consequences. In his own Denzel words“He's confused, he's over the line, he's angry, but he's not completely bad. I think he did his job too well in some ways. He learned how to manipulate, how to push the line further and further, and in the process, he became tougher than some of the guys he was chasing."