Spike Lee recently opened up about Denzel Washington’s Oscar snub for his role in Malcolm X.
During a Cannes press conference for his new film Highest 2 Lowest on Tuesday, May 20, the 68-year-old American film director shed light on his five collaborations with the Oscar-winning actor and emphasized that he should have been given an Oscar in 1993 for his portrayal of Malcolm X in the 1992 drama film of the same name instead of Al Pacino for his performance in Scent of a Woman.
Speaking of Washington, Lee quipped, “‘Malcolm X,’ what he did with that film was amazing. And no disrespect to my brother Al Pacino, I love him. But Denzel, in my opinion, should have won.”
Although the Gladiator 2 star eventually received an Oscar in 2002 for the 2001 crime thriller film Training Day, the Inside Man director clarified that Washington does not need awards to prove his greatness.
“With these awards, it’s like basketball, where the ref blows a call and you have to make a call. So, the make a call, I think was ‘Training Day,’ which he won an Oscar for. But we don’t do our work for awards, which are nice, but it’s the work that is going to stand above all awards,” Lee said in his concluding remarks.
