Denzel Washington hands over to his son Malcolm and keeps August Wilson in the family
August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson" deals profoundly with ancestry and heritage, which makes it all the more fitting that the new film adaptation, produced by Denzel Washington and directed by his son Malcolm, is a family affair
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Your support makes all the difference.August Wilson ’s “The Piano Lesson” deals profoundly with ancestry and heritage, which makes it all the more fitting that the new film adaptation, produced by Denzel Washington and directed by his son Malcolm, is a family affair.
“The Piano Lesson,” which premiered Tuesday at the Toronto International Film Festival, is the third in Washington’s ongoing project to bring Wilson’s plays to the screen. It follows “Fences” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and, like those films, features several powerhouse performances, including Danielle Deadwyler as Berniece and John David Washington, Malcolm’s older brother, as Berniece's bother Boy Willie.
In 1930s Pittsburgh, Boy Willie has arrived at his sister’s home with plans to sell a family heirloom, a piano engraved by their ancestors who took it from their enslaver. In the tortured family drama that ensues, Berniece, Boy Willie and others (the cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Potts and Ray Fisher) wrestle with the haunting shadow of slavery and the weight of family legacy.
“There are so many legacies tied into this,” says Malcolm Washington. “I think it’s part of our duty when you’re in the position to make a film like this to honor that and uphold it. We’re here because so many people fought and sacrificed and acted to give opportunity for the next generation. This film and the story of it, ultimately, is much bigger than my family.”
Malcolm, 33, was sitting alongside his older brother and Deadwyler a few hours before the premiere of “The Piano Lesson,” which Netflix will release Nov. 8 before it streams Nov. 22. As the interview was wrapping up, Denzel Washington burst into the room.
“It really all started with me,” Denzel jokingly declared as the other three howled with laughter. “Then I had two sons, and the next thing I knew I was out of work!”
Denzel, joined by his producing partner Todd Black, said it was his son’s idea that he might direct “The Piano Lesson.” A 2022 Broadway production had run of Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winner with much of the same cast, including John David.
“Malcolm said he had a take,” recalls Denzel. “He said, ‘Let me put something together.’ So he made a little short. I looked at it like, ‘Whoa, OK. You want to make the movie? This is great, make the movie.’”
Yet Malcolm didn’t immediately go for it. He told his father: “Let me see if I see the movie first.” He began working on a treatment and ultimately co-authored the script with Virgil Williams ( “Mudbound” ).
“At first, I was like, ‘See the movie’? But I get it now,” says Denzel. “He’s a real filmmaker. He took his time, and he didn’t just jump in.”
While John David, the 40-year-old star of “BlacKkKlansman” and “Tenet,” has firmly established himself as his own leading man in Hollywood, Malcolm, an alum of the American Film Institute’s directing program, is just stepping into the spotlight. “He knew what he wanted,” says Black. “And he wasn’t afraid to reach out to people who knew more than he knew.”
During the making of “The Piano Lesson,” Denzel largely kept his distance to let Malcolm work. Still, his passion for Wilson’s plays pervaded throughout the production.
“He’s such a fan of August Wilson and it’s such an important part of his legacy to continue telling August’s stories,” Malcolm says. “His main thing with all of us was to keep that focus: We’re here to honor one of our greats.”
“The Piano Lesson” is a Washington family production in other ways, too. Malcolm and John David’s mother, Pauletta Washington, plays the role of Mama Ola. The movie is dedicated to their mother.
“I started with a clear idea of this is about fathers and sons,” Malcolm says. “As we were shooting, I just really started to see this mother-daughter story, and my mom is such an inspiration for me. I always saw my mom as tied into the Berniece story.”
Malcolm's sisters are also involved. Olivia Washington plays Mama Ola as a young woman, and Katia Washington is an executive producer. Ironically, their father, Denzel, is almost the only one in the family not in the movie. But Malcolm, wanting everyone in the family somehow represented within the film, asked his father to participate with a brief voice recording.
“Am I in it?” Denzel says. “I recorded something. I didn’t get credit. Did I get credit? I don’t think so!”