Por Divya Rajagopal
TORONTO, Sept 11 (Reuters) – 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 the story of an African-American family and their legacy.
Denzel Washington executive produced the Netflix film, and his son Malcolm directed the feature. His other son, John David, plays one of the lead roles.
Adapted from August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, ‘The Piano Lesson’ is a story about a disagreement between a brother and sister over what to do with an inherited piano carved by a great-grandfather, which is haunted by a ghost from the family’s enslaved past.
“We wanted to make a film that would give access to audiences who didn’t know a story like this existed and open a window into this story,” said Malcolm Washington, who also directed a Broadway production of the play starring 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 to the past. Samuel L. Jackson plays their uncle, who tries to mediate.
The film, set in Pittsburgh in 1936, is the third adaptation of Denzel Washington’s “Pittsburgh Series” of 10 Wilson plays, following “Fences” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
“The Wilson estate came to me 10 years ago and allowed me to take charge, or guide, the completion of these August Wilson works,” he said.
He told reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival that his team intends to turn them all into films, and that talks had already begun on the next film, though he declined to reveal the title.
Deadwyler, whose acting credits include 2021’s “The Harder They Fall,” told Reuters it was a gift to be able to work with Malcolm Washington.
“From our first conversation, I realized that we are similar in ideas, themes, and the modalities of the arts are an integral part of how we were raised,” she said. “We came very prepared and did the work.”
(Reporting by Divya Rajagopal in Toronto; Editing by Hector Espinoza)
