Denzel Washington reveals ‘bitter’ fallout from 2000 Oscar loss

Denzel Washington has opened up about the “bitter” private fallout from his 2000 Oscar loss, when he lost Best Actor to Kevin Spacey.

Screen legend Denzel Washington has opened up about the “bitter” private fallout from his 2000 Oscar loss, when he lost the Best Actor award to Kevin Spacey.

Washington, who had already won one Oscar and earned three more nominations before the 2000 ceremony, was up for Best Actor for his role as boxer Rubin Carter in the acclaimed 1999 film The Hurricane.

Washington’s performance was gaining real Oscar buzz in what was a very strong category: He was up against Russell Crowe for The Insider, Sean Penn for Sweet and Lowdown, Richard Farnsworth for The Straight Story and Spacey for American Beauty.

In the end, Spacey won, one of five awards American Beauty took home that night.

In a new interview with Esquire, Washington speaks candidly about the loss, confessing that he felt as though all eyes were on him as Spacey took to the stage.

Kevin Spacey accepts the Best Actor award …

… as Denzel Washington watches on.

“I have a memory of turning around and looking at him, and nobody was standing but the people around him. And everyone else was looking at me. Not that it was this way. Maybe that’s the way I perceived it. Maybe I felt like everybody was looking at me. Because why would everybody be looking at me? Thinking about it now, I don’t think they were,” he said.

In the same interview, Washington opened up about his past battle with substance abuse, and said his Oscar loss was one such night where he drowned his sorrows with alcohol.

“I’m sure I went home and drank that night. I had to. I don’t want to sound like, ‘Oh, he won my Oscar,’ or anything like that. It wasn’t like that,” he said.

But still, the loss – combined with his alcohol issues – had Washington feeling like he “gave up” for some time.

Washington was nominated for the boxing biopic The Hurricane.

“I got bitter. My pity party. So I’ll tell you, for about fifteen years, from 1999 to 2014 when I put the beverage down, I was bitter.”

Washington, currently starring in the blockbuster sequel Gladiator II, dropped some other revealing information in a recent Aussie TV interview: At 69 years old, he has only a handful of projects left before he’ll retire from acting altogether.

“I don’t know how many more films I’m going to make. Probably not that many,” Washington, who turns 70 next month, confessed towards the end of an interview on The Today Show last week.

Washington says he’s got a handful of acting projects in the works, then he’ll retire. Picture: Kate Green/Getty

Washington also spoke to news.com.au’s Bronte Coy in London during his current Gladiator II promotional blitz – you can watch their chat at the top of this story.

And in their interview, he offered some potential insight into why he’s planning his retirement, telling her that this far into his career, there are “less and less challenges”.

But he said one factor heavily weighted his decision to sign on for the long-awaited Gladiator sequel, 20 years on from the original film.

“It was the filmmaker,” he told news.com.au, referencing the return of the original’s director, Ridley Scott.

The pair have teamed up in the past – and Washington described him as “one of the best directors” he’s ever worked with.

“He’s brilliant,” the actor declared.

“Ridley and I had great success together with American Gangster … so when he called me, I said yes. Whatever it was, I was going to do it. Because it’s him.”

Originally published as Denzel Washington reveals ‘bitter’ fallout from 2000 Oscar loss