When she and Denzel Washington “got into it”
The 2016 Grey’s Anatomy episode “The Sound of Silence” was directed by Denzel Washington. However, Pompeo suggested that their period of cooperation was not so smooth.
“Working with Denzel was amazing,” she said on a 2021 episode of the podcast Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo. “He was furious with me. This is a good Denzel story.”
The issue appears to have stemmed from Mr. Pompeo improvising a line in a scene with his castmates.
“It wasn’t part of the conversation, but Denzel hit me hard on the butt,” she continued. “He was like, ‘I’m the coach. You don’t tell him what to do.’
However, Pompeo did not appreciate the Oscar winner’s reaction.
“I was like, ‘Listen, mom,'” she added. “‘This is my show. This is my set. Who am I telling this to? I barely even know where the restrooms are.'”
And while Pompeo insisted he had “the utmost respect” for Washington as both an actor and a director, he acknowledged that they “worked on it.”
“We didn’t get through it without a fight. But that’s what actors are. Passionate and intense and that’s where the magic comes from and good things come from that. So it was an amazing experience. It really was.”
Washington, on the other hand, hinted that he wasn’t thinking much about the moment.
“No, no,” the Titans star told Variety in 2022, claiming he didn’t remember the incident before adding, “But it’s all good.”
