The other day I saw the film Flight starring Denzel Washington.
I have a special connection to this film. Victoria Burrows, the US casting director who cast Flight, comes to our studio in LA to visit the students each year.
For the last 18 months, she has been telling us about how great Flight is. It’s taken that long to get it distributed and out in the UK. She also told us the story of how she managed to get Kelly Reilly, a UK actress who appears in the TV programme Above Suspicion, a leading role in the film.
Victoria really believed in Kelly and fought to get her the part. You see, sometimes, if you’re right for the role, you will have casting directors in your corner helping you to get cast.
That aside, Flight is an outstanding film. Denzel deserves his Best Actor nomination, and, in my opinion, is the only true contender to Daniel Day-Lewis for the Oscar.
He plays an alcoholic airline pilot who manages to crash-land a plane but comes under scrutiny for his drinking.
Denzel plays a brilliant drunk and you really feel for him—as you do for all the characters. It’s a great script and cast. You should go and see it.
To be honest, it’s hard to choose between Denzel and Daniel. They are both great Method actors who have put in outstanding performances.
However, I don’t think Denzel will win the Best Actor Oscar this year.
Why not? I hear you scream.
More on that soon.