Denzel Washington Wants to Play Thelonious Monk

Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds== Universal Pictures’ World Premiere of “Safe House”, Arrivals== School of Visual Arts Theatre, NYC== February 07, 2012== ©PatrickMcmullan.com== photo-Sylvain Gaboury/PatrickMcmullan.com== == Photo: Sylvain Gaboury/?Patrick McMullan

Denzel Washington is considering portraying Thelonious Monk in a biopic, he tells the Guardian. “I’m talking about it more, so maybe I’m talking myself into it,” he says. He also says he’s “hovering” around doing a comedy, which would be his first one since 1996. How have neither of these not happened yet? Washington has played either a law enforcement officer or an outlaw of some stripe in ten out of his last fourteen movies, so it might be nice to stretch a liiiittle bit outside that zone, all the way toward jazz genius/revolutionary musical thinker or some sort of jokester. Branch out, Denzel! We believe in you!