Denzel Washington Fought To Change The Ending Of Training Day
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Detective Alonzo Harris is one of the greatest villains in cinema history, and the events of Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day do nothing to redeem him in the slightest. A corrupt cop who tries to impart his ? ways on his new and impressionable partner, he winds up on the wrong side of the Russian Mafia. Until now, there's only way we ever thought that the story would end, but recent comments from Denzel Washington have shown that this wasn’t always the case.
Naturally, this story will get into massive spoilers for Training Day. You have been warned.
The Hollywood Reporter recently covered an event where Washington was on stage talking about the various accomplishments of his career. Which means those who were attending were treated to some wonderful pieces of trivia involving some of his biggest roles, one of which was his Academy Award-winning performance as Harris. As it turns out, the big surprise involving his first collaboration with director Antoine Fuqua was that it ended a much different way on the page. Washington briefly recalled his creative input, as follows:
In the original script he [lived], but I was not having it.
Before we evaluate how this ending could have changed everything that Training Day stood for, let’s go back and pretend that we’ve just seen the film. To do that, we’ll provide you with the best damned scene from the whole film, embedded below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwnP7jhTrlQ
Now imagine you’ve just finished that scene, and imagine working your way to the ending, only to find that Alonzo Harris skated away from any sort of consequences. You could imagine that the audience would be fed up with the film, considering all of the nasty stuff Harris got away with. After a career of being on the take, ? off the Russian Mafia, and then putting Ethan Hawke’s Officer Jake Hoyt through Hell during their rounds on the day we follow them throughout the film, Harris’ escape in the original script would have ? any good audience member off.
Perhaps Denzel Washington realized what the audience would have thought of such an ending, and made the suggestion that this wasn’t the way to go. An actor of Washington’s talent knows how to read an audience before they even put one frame to celluloid, and he obviously knew that the original ending to Training Day had "rage quit" written all over it. If the film were focused on Harris’ character as the protagonist, that ending might have worked, as we would have either been rooting for him as an anti-heroic character, or we would have been made to realize that justice is sometimes never served.
However, we’re focused on Jake, and with Jake’s story in focus, the film has to end with Harris’ death. The tone shifts with this focus, as Harris’ death ultimately redeems Jake’s decision to walk away from Harris, allowing him to be at the mercy of the gang members holding him up. Either way, you could argue which ending Training Day benefits from more, but in the case of the film we saw on the screen, that decision was made by Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua. That decision cemented the film’s success, as well as the continued partnership we’ve seen them nurture over the past 14 years. A partnership that we’ll see on display once again when The Magnificent Seven opens on September 23, 2016.
Comments
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Now I wanna see this movie again
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Yeah I would've walked out ? had that ending happened.
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He did Jake ? though so I'm not even mad at him dying at the end. Had he lived I think I would have been ? too like Recap mentioned. Good thing Jake saved ol girl in that alley though.
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He did Jake ? though so I'm not even mad at him dying at the end. Had he lived I think I would have been ? too like Recap mentioned. Good thing Jake saved ol girl in that alley though.
He saved his ass by saving that girl. -
Lonzo had been planning that ? since earlier when I heard him say something about the tub. -
? that..I wanted Denzel to ? him and get away
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shoe program ? ...that ? classic
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I'd have been good with denzel living
I root for the villains all the time
If he took eva and rode her into the sunset...good ending -
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shoe program ? ...that ? classic
S.pecial h.ousing u.nit
If he lived it woulda been more realistic though
It coulda been pretty dope tbh...white boy gets knocked for smokin wet n end the movie wit denzel wit some other new cop in his car Talkin ? .....that woulda been dope as hell lol -
Cops get away with ? all the time
But hey denzel knows more about audiences than me
Maybe he is right -
I Self Lord & Master wrote: »shoe program ? ...that ? classic
S.pecial h.ousing u.nit
If he lived it woulda been more realistic though
It coulda been pretty dope tbh...white boy gets knocked for smokin wet n end the movie wit denzel wit some other new cop in his car Talkin ? .....that woulda been dope as hell lol
And if he lived he would of had Bloods, Crips, and the Russians on his ass. -
Cops get away with ? all the time
But hey denzel knows more about audiences than me
Maybe he is right
Yeah they do but it's a movie...
In real life the lady tied to the train tracks dies, no hero comes to save them, audiences don't like that ? lol... -
Death scene was a Godfather rip off
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Had he lived he probably wouldn't have gotten an Oscar. Crakkkas ain't having that ? . The ? wins and Jake ass gets framed lol Naw. They're would have been outrage.
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I nvr liked his death scene
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it doesnt matter that he died because everyone still walked away from feelin like alonzo was the man. i mean ? he ran things with impunity for how long, had judges, prosecutors, essays, and ? from the hood in his back pocket. at the end of the day he got what was comin to him but his point is real. to catch a wolf you gotta become wolf. its just about whether u let it consume u. same way jake kinda transformed into one after the tub scene. just my 2 cents
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I Self Lord & Master wrote: »shoe program ? ...that ? classic
S.pecial h.ousing u.nit
If he lived it woulda been more realistic though
It coulda been pretty dope tbh...white boy gets knocked for smokin wet n end the movie wit denzel wit some other new cop in his car Talkin ? .....that woulda been dope as hell lol
And if he lived he would of had Bloods, Crips, and the Russians on his ass.
which would have made for a great movie its self. hell that sounds like money if you make a sequel... -
illestni99ainne wrote: »Had he lived he probably wouldn't have gotten an Oscar. Crakkkas ain't having that ? . The ? wins and Jake ass gets framed lol Naw. They're would have been outrage.
you probably right but ? its realistic... plus a sequel with bloods, crips, russians and maybe even the eses comin after his ass? shieeettt -
Anybody get the joke about the snail crawling in the yard though? He says, figure the joke out, you'll figure the streets out..
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Rum Middleton wrote: »Anybody get the joke about the snail crawling in the yard though? He says, figure the joke out, you'll figure the streets out..
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Not sure what to make of the Snail Story. There are lots of ways you could take that.
Alonzo killing Rodger made me hate him the 1st time watching tho. Double crossing the homie.
Alonzo is a low down ruthless vato... But i like that -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onZwTLcePy4
this is the best scene of the movie IMO. I almost believed Alonzo myself -
That story sounded like jake was the snail that got his shell cracked.
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Damn I came in thinking Denzel wanted him to live.
I liked the ending as it is, those Russians weren't playing. That was more realistic.
I lightweight wanted see what became of Hoyt, but who knows how they would have executed that.