Denzel's New Thrill Ride

The Oscar Winner Keeps His Cool As Negociator In "Inside Man"

(CBS)  Two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington has done it all, from period drama to romantic comedy to gritty action. His latest is the heist caper "Inside Man," also starring Clive Owen and Jodie Foster. In this thriller, he plays a detective trying to outsmart a bank robber who has taken hostages.

He talked with The Early Show's co-anchor Julie Chen about working on a fourth movie with director Spike Lee, and why "Inside Man" is not your typical bank heist film.

"It was a good read," said Washington. "When I got the script [in 2005] I was playing Brutus in 'Julius Caesar' on Broadway, so I had a lot of words to begin with. I thought, 'this is a good idea. A good read, a twist on the heist movie, and a great cast.'"

Washington describes his cop character Keith Frazier as "a good-bad guy" going through a lot in his life. "Frazier never had a case this big," he adds. "It's my lucky day."

Washington says that working with fellow Oscar winner Jodie Foster, who plays a fixer with sex appeal in the film, was enlightening. "She is one of the smartest people I've ever met," he said. "She's not on my level. She's up here somewhere. She's very bright and very easy to work with and very kind, and just about the business."

This is the 51-year-old actor's fourth film with director Spike Lee and he says both of them have changed a lot over the years. "I hope we're wiser. We're definitely older," said Washington, whose first film with Lee was 1990's "Mo' Better Blues." "We're a bit more mellow. I think he's more mellow. I think marriage and children have changed him."

Washington says this film is different from any of the others they've done together. "It's very different for him," he said. "This is one of his most entertaining films, for lack of a better word. It's the first film I've done with him where he didn't write it. And I think he did a great job. I'm glad to see him -- well, I think he was doing this before -- but really branching out and doing a lot of different things."

Lee wrote 1998's "He Got Game" and co-wrote 1992's "Malcolm X," both of which Washington starred in.

A native New Yorker, Washington enjoyed filming in lower Manhattan, a place he said he never really went as a kid. "It was very interesting in that part of town," he said. "I hadn't really spent that much time down there growing up. There was no reason to go down to Wall Street. But I think post-9/11 there have been a lot of incentives for people to move down there. It's a booming residential area now."

Washington, who has four children with Pauletta, his wife of more than 20 years, was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., and studied journalism at Fordham University in the early 1970s before deciding to pursue acting.

In one scene of "Inside Man" filmed outside of a Manhattan bank, a banner emblazoned with the words "We Will Never Forget" is visible in the background, a tribute to the 9/11 tragedy. "I think that was just there. [Lee] didn't put it up," said Washington, who hopes that filming in the financial district did something positive for the local economy.

The actor's next project is Tony Scott's "Deja Vu," which he is currently filming in New Orleans. It is one of the first major films to be made there since the area was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

"It's tough," he said. "The garden district, downtown and the quarter, I don't know what percentage they are back, but they are kind of back. They had a big, very successful Mardi Gras. There's a lot of kids are down there now for spring break. Then 80 percent of the city is still kind of quiet. But you see a lot of people doing what they can do, trying to put their homes and their lives back together."