Actress Kelly Lynch Says Denzel Washington’s On-Set Changes “Ruined” What Could’ve Been a Hit Movie

Actress Kelly Lynch once opened up about her experience working with Denzel Washington on the 1995 sci-fi thriller Virtuosity, and according to her, the project didn’t quite go the way it was supposed to.

In an interview with The AV Club, Lynch claimed that Washington made major changes to the script, which she believes ultimately hurt the film.

Lynch said the movie originally had “a wonderful script” and her character, Madison Carter, was meant to be a romantic interest for Washington’s character, Parker Barnes. However, she explained that things shifted once Washington got involved, suggesting he used his influence to take control of the project.

“When actors feel like there’s not a real captain of the ship, they can feel like, ‘I have to take this project under my wing,’” she said, referring to director Brett Leonard as “inexperienced.”

According to Lynch, Washington didn’t like the romantic storyline and decided to change it. “He took the script and rewrote it,” she said, explaining that her character was reduced to a more typical “hostage and child in danger” type of role, which she described as “something I absolutely hate.” She also claimed that some of her lines were reassigned to Washington’s character, saying that’s when “the whole script unraveled.”

Lynch said Washington justified removing the romance by saying that white audiences wouldn’t accept seeing a Black man in a relationship with a white woman — a view she strongly disagreed with. “It made me very sad,” she said. “Not only as an actress, because it totally turned the movie into a piece of cr**, but I think he was afraid. I’m sure he believed what he was saying, but I think he’s wrong.”

Virtuosity, which also starred Russell Crowe, follows a cop hunting a dangerous AI criminal. The film was released in 1995 and performed modestly at the box office, earning $37 million on a $30 million budget. It received mostly poor reviews, with critics calling it uninspired despite its talented cast.

In hindsight, Lynch believes the movie could have been much better if the original vision had been preserved. While Washington went on to become one of Hollywood’s most respected actors, Lynch’s comments suggest that behind the scenes, Virtuosity may have been more turbulent than fans realized.

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