Denzel Washington and sons on the red carpet for "The Piano Lesson"

12/9/2024 5:56

        Award-winning actor Denzel Washington joined his two sons on
        the red carpet this week at the Toronto screening of "The Piano
        Lesson," a collaboration that tells a story of an
        African-American family and its legacy.
        
        Denzel Washington was executive producer of the Netflix
        movie, and his son Malcolm directed the feature, his first. His
        other son, John David, plays one of the lead roles.
        
        Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by August
        Wilson, 'The Piano Lesson' is a story about a disagreement
        between a brother and sister about what to do with an heirloom
        piano carved by a great-grandfather that is haunted by a ghost
        from the family's enslaved past.
        
        "We wanted to make a movie that gave audiences who did not
        know there was a story like this access to it and open a window
        to this story," said Malcolm Washington, who also directed a
        Broadway staging of the play that starred his brother.
        
        The brother, played by John David Washington, wants to sell
        the piano to buy the land where his ancestors worked as slaves.
        For the sister, played by Danielle Deadwyler, it is an
        irreplaceable connection with the past. Samuel L. Jackson plays
        their uncle who tries to mediate.
        
        The film, set in Pittsburgh in 1936, is the third adaptation
        by Denzel Washington from the 10-part 'Pittsburgh Series' of
        plays by Wilson, following "Fences" and "Ma Rainey's Black
        Bottom."
        
        "The Wilson estate came to me 10 years ago and allowed me to
        take charge, or to shepherd, the making of these August Wilson
        plays," he said.
        
        He told reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival
        that his team intends to make all of them into films, and
        discussions about the work on the next movie had already begun,
        although he declined to reveal the title.
        
        Deadwyler, whose acting credits include 2021's "The Harder
        They Fall" told Reuters that it was a gift to be able to work
        with Malcolm Washington.
        
        "From our first conversation, I realized we are similar in
        ideas, themes and modalities of arts are integral to how we are
        reared," she said. "We came in over-prepared and we did the
        play."