Denzel Washington is making the rounds promoting his upcoming new movie Flight, as part of that he did an interview with GQ Magazine in which he opened up about passing on the movie Seven a role that went to Brad Pitt and Michael Clayton the role that earned George Clooney an Oscar nomination for best actor, the film earned a total of 7 Oscar nominations, including best director. GQ:

Are there any roles you’ve turned down that you regret?
Seven and Michael Clayton. With Clayton, it was the best material I had read in a long time, but I was nervous about a first-time director, and I was wrong. It happens.

And you wanted a part in Platoon?
That and Full Metal Jacket. They were like, “Well, [Kubrick] doesn’t send out his scripts.” I was like, “Well, then what do you want me to do?” Platoon, I wanted to play the part Willem Dafoe played.

He also spoke about Whitney Houston’s death and how it affected him. GQ:

What did you feel when Whitney died?
Whitney was my girl, and she had done so well in recovery. And that is the toughest part about addiction.

Were you friends still?
Not “talk every month” friends, but I talked to her from time to time. And that was a monster drug that got ahold of her, it was a mean one. You can’t go back to that one. Nobody beats that. I look at people—and I don’t think I’m speaking out of line—Sam Jackson, I’ve known for thirty-some-odd years, he was down at the bottom. And he came all the way back. And when he cleaned up, he never looked back. But he can’t have that beer, because it might lead to the tough thing.

Whitney was such a sweet, sweet girl and really just a humble girl. You know, they made her this thing. She had a voice, obviously, but they packaged her into this whole whatever, but she was really just this humble, sweet girl. Me and Lenny [Kravitz], we were talking about her yesterday, and it’s more of an example to me or the rest of us to keep it together. I was listening to her song “I Look to You.” It’s prophetic. Maybe I’m speaking out of line. Maybe she thought she could have one. And then the next thing you know, her body was betraying her. She didn’t know that her body was aging quickly. She couldn’t take it. Your body can only take so much. Some people survive [Hollywood and fame], and some people don’t.

Those movies would’ve been so much different if he would’ve been a part of them. He also speaks about wanting to work with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. I’m surprised that it hasn’t happened yet, Hollywood get working on a script so we can see these three actors in action together, in the meantime I’m going to go to sleep because I’m tired.