Denzel Washington learns the meaning of life - Unstoppable

FYI -- This article appeared in last Sundays USA Weekend ------ I highlighted the section about our area.

"I'm a work in progress"
Denzel Washington learns the meaning of life (and his name).
By Jeffrey Ressner


Even dressed down in black sweats, a Windbreaker and a New York Yankees cap, it's hard to hide when you're Denzel Washington. As he struts into a swanky Beverly Hills hotel bar, the star is instantly recognizable to everyone there. Indeed, he's a guy who was known only by his first name before being known by just your first name was cool.
Amazingly, it was only a few months ago that Washington learned what that famous appellation means. Playing armchair detective, the two-time Oscar winner ran his ID through an etymology search engine. Because he shares his father's name, he already knew the schmaltzy family story about how his dad was named after the physician who delivered him, Dr. Denzel. But no one ever explained the odd word itself.
When the website returned an answer, the actor was taken aback. "It turns out to be a British word that means 'fort,' " he says, incredulous, his expressive eyes beaming with genuine astonishment. "I never knew that."
Known to pals simply as "D," Washington is defined widely in yet another way: as America's favorite actor, an accolade he has won three years running in a national Harris poll.
Next Friday, he hits the big screen in "The Book of Eli," a post-apocalyptic tale in which he portrays a noble but butt-kicking nomad who roams the scorched Earth carrying a long-forgotten religious text. A bit of a downer, no?
"When I signed up for the film, the world wasn't quite headed in the direction it is now," Washington says. Still, "I thought it was a fascinating story and dug the guy's spiritual journey." Not to mention the reported $20 million a movie the actor typically commands.
Asked if he finds doing uplifting, even messianic roles like Eli difficult, he shoots a smart-alecky stare. "Well, it's a movie," he says, chuckling. "It's what I'm trained to do -- you take a part, you interpret it. It's not me! I don't look at it like, 'Oh, this is such a noble character.' ... I wouldn't even know how to do that."
More than ever, though, Washington says he feels a sense of obligation -- of purpose, even -- doing what he does best: offering a sense of dignity and hope, even if it's in a doomed sci-fi world.
"Having recently been in states with high unemployment, I feel -- more than ever before -- an obligation to entertain folks because it's rough out there," he explains, ticking off the recent schedule for his next movie, a runaway-train thriller called "Unstoppable," that filmed in Bradford, Penn., Canton, Ohio, and Wheeling, W.Va. -- what he calls "real America." "People are looking for something bigger than they are. They have a greater need to escape and fantasize."
Clearly, the actor is moved.
"Folks are struggling all over the place," he continues. "People are out of work. These giant factories are empty. In one location, we needed 50 extras and 2,000 men showed up."
I feel an obligation to entertain folks because it's rough out there.
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