Denzel scores an Equalizer

Incredibly, the New York native turns 60 this December, but a mammoth party's unlikely to be in the pipeline.

"My birthday comes three days after Christmas, so it was never a big deal in my house. It was like, 'Here's a cake, see you later'. Everybody's tired and broke, so it never was a big deal, and it's not that big a deal to me now."

You do sense that age is but a number for the double Oscar winner, and retirement isn't something he sits around contemplating.

"I think it's sad when you hear about people who say, 'I'm going to retire and do nothing', and then they die two years later. You need to stay active and have a passion for living. Don't put me out to pasture!

"Besides, actors don't have to retire. Look at someone like Clint Eastwood in his 80s, Betty White's in her 90s. I don't know if I want to go that long, but we'll see," he adds.

Washington, who's starred in the likes of Malcolm X, Man On Fire, American Gangster and Deja Vu, looks in his prime in his latest movie, The Equalizer.

It's a violent, action-packed movie that takes its title from the Eighties TV series, and shares its central premise too – a mysterious man called Robert McCall (Washington), who uses his highly-trained skills to 'equalise' the odds when they're stacked against the helpless.

"Robert's done a lot of bad things in the past, and he's trying to do better," explains the actor. "He didn't like himself, but he never lost his skills, he just made a conscious decision to put that behind him."

It's when he meets Teri, a young girl (played by Chloe Moretz) who's being abused by a sex traffic ring, that he decides to do something about it – and despatches the Russian gangsters, in increasingly grisly ways.

Screenwriter Richard Wenk, wrote the movie with Washington in mind, but he and the team had an agonising three-day wait for his verdict, after sending him the script.

Eventually, he called producer Todd Black and said: "Todd? This is Robert McCall."

Washington and Wenk continued to hone the script, with the actor keen to cover the basics. Who is McCall? What makes him tick? What is he trying to get over?

"I think that long ago, he started out as a man who wanted to help people and turned into something else," says Washington. "He had to put that all behind him to shut that door, and this young innocent opens it again."

The movie saw him reunited with director Antoine Fuqua, who he'd previously collaborated with on 2001's Training Day, a movie that earned Washington an Oscar (he also won one for 1989's Glory).

"He's very talented," he says of the film-maker. "We sent him the material and he responded with tons of ideas, and it was a done deal.

"Antoine had a vision for the film, doing close work with specialised cameras, but I never worried about any of that. The camera is Antoine's area of expertise, I just worry about the acting," Washington adds – modestly – as he's directed two projects of his own; Antwone Fisher in 2002 and The Great Debaters in 2007.

One of McCall's trademarks is improvisation. He doesn't carry a gun, but instead scans a room within seconds to see what he can use as weapons. After watching the movie, it will be difficult to see a corkscrew in the same light, or a DIY shop for that matter, but Fuqua wanted the scenes, however violent, to be realistic.

Washington, who enjoys keeping himself in check, trained hard with the stunt team, favouring slick, street-style fighting over marital arts, but asked if it's the most physically tough role of his career, he simply says: "Not more than any other movie, no."

McCall might be a trained killer, but he also proves to be a nifty dancer, when fooling about with colleagues, ignorant to his capabilities, at the DIY store. Recalling the scene, Washington grins. "I just went online and YouTube'd The Pips and tried to steal some moves. Then I added a bit of my own flair to it."

The character has created a new, anonymous, life for himself, and, despite his status, Washington, who studied drama and journalism at Fordham University, insists he can get about incognito too.

"Especially in New York, nobody's looking for me. Sometimes I have people say, 'You know who you look like?' I'm like, 'Yeah, I hear it all the time. I wish I had his money!'"

He was recently back in the Big Apple, appearing on stage in a production of A Raisin In The Sun. "I love the theatre. That's my first love as an actor, so the last nine years, I've done three Broadway shows, and I'd love to go back in another three or four years," he says.

As for treading the boards in London's West End... "I've been asked," he admits. "It's just, you know, a long way, but maybe."

Geography has always played a part in how he chooses projects. "I didn't do a play in New York for 15 years, and the reason was because we were raising our kids," says Washington, who has four children with Paulette, his wife of 31 years.

"I couldn't commute, as it was too far to try and do eight shows and come home [to the West Coast] Sunday night and go right back Tuesday morning, so I just laid low for a few years, but now I'm back."

With the exception of Broadway, and his Oscar-nominated role in 2012's Flight, the last few years have seen him become a go-to guy for action roles requiring dramatic gravitas – think 2 Guns, Safe House, The Book Of Eli – much like Liam Neeson, who turned 62 this year. Can he see them pairing upon screen?

"He's a lovely man and a good actor, but I haven't thought about it," Washington muses. "Script is first. The script is always first..."

EXTRA TIME – BEHIND THE SCENES

n Director Antoine Fuqua's inspiration for the action scenes came from boxers, including close friend Sugar Ray Leonard. "They're always checking you out to see if you're a threat, and McCall does that too."

n The diner in which McCall and Teri first meet was actually a floor shop. Production chose it because of the huge wrap-around windows that resemble a haven of light in the darkness.

n Eminem, who was attached to Fuqua's follow-up project Southpaw but had to drop out, has provided a song for soundtrack.

n The camera is focused on McCall 95% of the time during action sequences. Washington trained with stunt coordinator and former Special Forces man, Keith Woulard, for a month beforehand.

n Actor Marton Csokas was keen not to give his character, sociopathic gangster Teddy, a stereotypical Russian accent, so imagined he'd been living in London and combined it with a Cockney twang.

n The Equalizer is in cinemas now