The 1998 role that pushed Denzel Washington to try something new
In 1998, Denzel Washington stepped outside his usual lane as Detective John Hobbes in Fallen, a supernatural thriller-horror from Gregory Hoblit. His agents urged him toward the sharp script, making it the closest the two-time Oscar winner has come to a horror lead—even though the film later flopped at the box office.
That risk still matters for fans catching up with his work on streaming. While Streaming & TV Alerts audiences rediscover later hits like The Equalizer 3 on HBO Max, Fallen remains the rare moment when Washington chased a genre his agents usually kept off his desk.
Key Takeaways
- Washington played Detective John Hobbes in 1998’s Fallen, a thriller with a supernatural murder plot.
- Director Gregory Hoblit’s film is the closest he has come to a horror starring role.
- He credited his agents for screening out weak genre scripts and pushing this one.
- Fallen earned just over $25 million against a $45 million budget and drew mixed reviews.
- His 2023 action sequel The Equalizer 3 is finding new viewers on HBO Max.
What 1998 role pushed Denzel Washington out of his comfort zone?
According to Far Out Magazine, Washington took on Fallen as a type of movie fans were not used to seeing from him. The story follows Hobbes as he investigates murders with a supernatural bent—the nearest the star has come to headlining horror.
On paper, a performer of his stature might have looked overqualified. In the late 1990s, horror still carried a stigma, which film critic John C. Tibbets raised when he asked what drew Washington to a genre often criticized for lacking intelligence.
Why did Denzel Washington say yes to Fallen?
Washington said he did not read many screenplays in that genre, calling it “a credit to my agents who send the bad ones away.” Once they told him the project had something going, he read the script quickly. “When you get a good screenplay, it’s like ‘boom,’” he recalled.
He noted he had never done a horror movie before, though he had starred in films that “were just as frightening, but for the wrong reasons.” The strong writing, plus similarities to another project he was working on then, sealed the choice.
Did the gamble pay off at the box office?
It did not. Fallen made just over $25 million on a $45 million budget, a flop despite Washington’s draw and a cast that included Donald Sutherland, James Gandolfini, and John Goodman. Critics liked the core idea but found the execution shallow and underdeveloped.
Far Out still frames the choice as trailblazing: many famous actors now headline horror, a shift from when the genre could be dismissed as dumb in press interviews.
Where can fans stream a later Denzel Washington hit right now?
For a sharper contrast with that 1998 experiment, SlashFilm reports that Washington’s 2023 thriller The Equalizer 3 is finding new fans on HBO Max. The Antoine Fuqua sequel, made for about $70 million, grossed over $191 million and holds a 76% Rotten Tomatoes score from 167 reviews—proof his action brand still travels well on streaming.