NEW YORK — No place has been hotter than New York the past couple of weeks. Prince, New Edition, Will Smith and P. Diddy have all recently held major events in the Big Apple, but on Monday, Denzel Washington was the city's star of the evening.

Usher, Leon, Rosie Perez, Wyclef Jean and Phylicia Rashad joined Washington and his "Manchurian Candidate" co-stars Meryl Streep and Jon Voight at the film's world premiere.

"I traveled from Georgia to here for a great cause," Usher said during his red-carpet walk. "Denzel Washington's performance deserves that kind of attention."

"Denzel is the greatest," agreed Voight. "Everything you've heard about Denzel is true. He's professional, he's brilliant and he's doing a great job in the movie."

Oscar-winner Meryl Streep, who has also been getting kudos for her performance as the reprehensible Eleanor Shaw, had her own words of praise for Washington.

"It's fun to let go of all inhibitions and go for it," she said about playing a baddy. "It's much harder to be Denzel and be the good guy. I had one little day [on the set] with Denzel and it's not enough. Next time, I'll need more time. He's brilliant in the movie."

Yes, it's yet another critically acclaimed performance for the silver-screen heartthrob, but "Candidate" helmer Jonathan Demme (who also directed Denzel in "Philadelphia") says he's no angel.

"It's not hard directing me," Washington said with a his usual charm-filled grin. "What did he say was the hardest part about directing me?"

Demme simply described his friend as "tough."

"When Denzel arrives in the morning, he's in a bad mood because he's concerned that we may not be able to do the best possible work of our abilities of the scene at hand," the director elaborated. "So the stakes are high. He knows it, and raises the bar for everybody around him. And it's very intense and very inspiring. At the end of the day, when we finish the scene, a big smile comes across his face."

"That's about right," Denzel said with a smile.

In preparation for the character of war veteran Ben Marco, the Academy Award-winning actor says he did not look at the original "Manchurian Candidate," which starred Frank Sinatra as Bennett Marco, for inspiration. 

"I didn't see why it would help me," he said. "I've never done a film where I've watched another film first to help me to interpret the role that I'm about to play. I didn't want to start by doing that now. I wanted to be free to use my own ideas, and maybe an idea that I would come up with is an idea that Frank Sinatra came up with already, so I didn't want to feel like, 'I can't do that,' because it was already done. So I'm gonna watch it tonight."

Washington will be back in front of the cameras for "Tru Blu" later this year (see "Is Denzel Washington ... A: Unemployed, B: A Drug Dealer, Or C: Superfly?"), but in the meantime, he's hoping to catch up on some music. Right now he loves Kanye West's The College Dropout and wants to cop the latest Roots album.

Check out everything we've got on "The Manchurian Candidate."

Visit MTV Movies for more from Hollywood, including news, interviews, trailers and more.