By Thomas Chau in New York City

Denzel Washington steps into a role once made famous by Old Blue Eyes as he stars in a remake of the 1962 political thriller, “The Manchurian Candidate.” Directed by Jonathan Demme, the thriller this time around takes place after the events of the Gulf War. Washington stars as Major Ben Marco, a veteran of the Gulf War. Marco relives the events of the war through nightmares and haunting visions, as he wonders just what exactly happened to him and his platoon. Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) was said to have saved Marco and his soldiers from the hands of the enemy – but did any of it really happen? Marco suspects that he and the surviving members of his platoon have been brainwashed and thus leads him to find out the truth as Raymond Shaw is nominated as the vice-president for a leading presidential candidate.

This was the second time I interviewed Washington in four months and like the first time, Washington maintained a lighthearted, jovial sense of humor during the session. Below is what Denzel had to say about this political thriller.

Q: Are you tired of people saying how great you are?

DENZEL: Am I tired of people saying I’m great? They may say that to you, but they don’t say that to me. I’m glad to hear it. No, I would not be tired of that. “Nice” “Great” Those are all good words. (Laughs) Where are we heading with this?

Q: What was it like to work with Jonathan again, because your role in “Philadelphia” wasn’t as strong as it is here?

DENZEL: I think my role’s actually smaller in this film. It might be. I didn’t do a page count. He was great. The material came to me first and I sat down with the producer, Scott Rudin, and he had a short list of directors he was interested in, and I had a shorter list… of one. And actually Jonathan’s name was the first on his list. So that took care of that. I’d looked forward to the opportunity since “Philadelphia” to work with Jonathan again.

Q: Did you see this movie as a science fiction film or a psychological thriller?

DENZEL: No, I never thought of it as science fiction. The one set we used that was real bizarre was sort of science fiction with all the tubes and things and choking, but that whole set which was supposed to be a dream — I got confused what it was, but it didn’t matter because anything goes. You could do anything in that scene. So I guess that was a bit science fiction.

Q: Would you say that the mass media nowadays serves as a disguised alternative to brainwashing?

DENZEL: Mind control and brainwashing is not big science fiction stuff. It’s your television set. It’s information. You know, people were running out and voting for [Richard] Gephardt because the papers said he was going to be the vice-residential candidate, so that’s mind control. Times Square is mind control. Nestle’s Crunch. I ate a bar because I saw the sign in Times Square!

Q: Did you go back to the original film to help with your performance?

DENZEL: I never saw it. My agent told me this was a remake of the original. I read the script. I loved the script, and knew I wanted to be in the film. That’s when I decided not to see it, because I didn’t want to be restricted. I didn’t want to come up with an idea and say, “Oh, they did that.” I wanted to be free to come up with whatever I came up with. I’m not against seeing it now.

Q: How eerie is it when a movie like this comes frightening close to reality, like “The Siege” after 9/11?

DENZEL: You know, I went down there to Ground Zero three nights after 9/11, and I decided to go in the middle of the night because I didn’t want to meet people or anything like that. I just drove down here and got out of the car and tried to get somebody to notice me, which I did, and I met a Marine. And he took me right on down to Ground Zero, and I met the night shift boss or whatever, and he took me all around. And I must have heard 30 or 40 times, “This ain’t ‘The Siege,’ eh Denzel? This ain’t ‘The Siege,’ is it?” And unfortunately, doing the research I did, a lot of what FBI guys and CIA guys were telling me was, “We’re not covering all the bases. We don’t have all the resources to keep (on top of everything). We’re catching one in three.” And I said, “How are we going to stop this?” And he said, “The public.”

Q: Meryl said that a script is the most important thing to her when selecting a project. Do you agree?

DENZEL: If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the page is an old saying. You know, I think script is first. It ought to be, or at the very least, a great idea is first.

Q: So it has nothing to do with who you work with?

DENZEL: You shouldn’t think that way. If it’s…I was about to say a movie by name! There were two great actors in it, but it didn’t help that they were both in it. That’s actually a couple of movies I’ve been in. (Laughs) But no, it’s got to be script first.

Q: Do you see yourself as a role model and if so, does that influence what kind of movies you do?

DENZEL: I don’t think so. I think people go to see the movies because the movies are good. They see you and then they give you a label. I don’t care what kind of role model somebody says I am. If I’m no good in the movie, people ain’t going.

Q: If you’re good enough in one film though, doesn’t it mean that people will go to see the next Denzel Washington movie?

DENZEL: But that doesn’t have anything to do with being a role model. I don’t care what people think. I choose my roles on what I want to do. You can’t do that. I’m serious about that. I don’t work from the outside in. Don’t get my roles mixed up with me. People don’t know me. They know the roles I play, and it’s two different things.

"The Manchurian Candidate" opens in theaters July 30th.