Denzel Washington Lost Best Actor to Kevin Spacey and Stopped Voting for Oscars: ‘They Don’t Care About Me? I Don’t Care. I Gave Up. I Got Bitter.’
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director Denzel Washington revealed to Esquire magazine as part of a new cover story that he got bitter after losing the best actor Oscar to Kevin Spacey in 2000.
Washington was already a three-time Oscar nominee and one-time winner when his performance as Rubin Carter in “The Hurricane” landed him in the Oscar race for best actor opposite Spacey (“American Beauty”), Russell Crowe (“The Insider”), Richard Farnsworth (“The Straight Story”) and Sean Penn (“Sweet and Lowdown”).
Washington won a Golden Globe for his performance, but the Oscar went to Spacey. “At the Oscars, they called Kevin Spacey’s name for ‘American Beauty,'” Washington said. “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.
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