Denzel Washington and Josh Brolin nearly came to blows on ‘American Gangster’

By the time Josh Brolin made the 2007 film American Gangster, he’d been in show business for more than 20 years. But that didn’t stop him from being starstruck by his impressive costars in the crime drama, including Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Idris Elba, and, of course, Denzel Washington. They were some of his favorites.

So Brolin was taken aback when he and Washington “almost got into a fight” on the set of the Ridley Scott film, he said on a recent episode of In Depth with Graham Bensinger.

“Denzel showed up,” Brolin said. “He was a little late to set, and there was a whole thing there. And then he showed me the lines…. He didn’t change any of my lines, but he kind of changed the structure of it. And he said, ‘I think I’m gonna put this down here, and I’m gonna put that up there.’ But he wouldn’t really look at me.”

Washington portrayed New York City drug lord Frank Lucas, whose real-life story inspired the film. Brolin played NYPD Detective Nick Trupo who takes bribes from Lucas.

“So I was trying to remember the structure, and then we rehearsed. It wasn’t that many lines, mostly mine,” Brolin said of filming. “And I’m supposed to be super confident. It’s Denzel Washington, man. It’s like, not easy, you’re just some, this actor who they’re trying out, seeing if he’s the real thing or not. And I forgot a line. And I put my hand on his shoulder and I said, ‘What’s the line?’ And he hit my hand off and he said, ‘Don’t ever f—ing put your hand on me.’ And I was like, ‘Holy s—, I’m gonna scrap with Denzel Washington. This is crazy.’ We’re not actors anymore…at least in my mind.”

Brolin was the one who needed to calm down, though, because Washington was in character.

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“In his mind, he was just doing his job. He was that guy. He was Frank Lucas, period,” the No Country for Old Men star said. “But I didn’t know. And then we got through that moment. I said, ‘Are you okay?’ He said, ‘Yeah. You?’ I said, ‘Yeah. Can I get my line?’ He said, ‘Go for it.’ It’s like he’d said what he needed to say.”

Brolin said the men “get along very well now.”

He recalled that, when he saw Washington about a year after they worked together, the actor excitedly called him over to say hello.

Watch the clip above and tune in to Brolin’s full interview on YouTube.