Early in his career, said Denzel Washington, he got some good advice from legendary actor Sidney Portier.

“He told me to be very careful choosing my first roles, because that would determine how Hollywood perceived me,” Washington said.

His early choices were in the heroic mode: in “Cry Freedom,” “A Soldier’s Story” and “Glory.”

“Imagine if ‘Training Day’ had been my first movie,” he said, noting that in the new movie he plays a corrupt police officer. “I couldn’t have handled it. I really would have messed it up.”

Was there some hidden part of himself that Washington reached into to play the ruthless cop?

He arched an eyebrow.

“It’s all acting,” Washington said.

“You can’t even research something like this. Even if there was a narcotics policeman like this, I doubt that he would want to talk to me.

“And even if he did, I’m not sure I’d really want to hear what he had to say.”