Denzel
Washington Starred in Film to Stop it Flopping
12/14/07
Denzel Washington was forced to star in new movie The Great Debaters
after he was told it would be a flop if he stayed behind the camera.
Washington only signed to direct and produce the real-life story of a
all-black Texas college's champion debating team, who challenged the great
minds of Harvard University in 1935 - but studio bosses warned him it
would struggle without a star on screen.
He says, "(They said), `It could get more money if I was in it.'
And it just wasn't going to be enough money if I wasn't in it."