The Piano Lesson just got a brand new trailer from Netflix and it features Samuel L Jackson, John David Washington and Daniel Deadwyler in the adaptation of August Wilson’s classic play. Malcolm Washington directs The Piano Lesson and has taken great pains to bring the vision of the Pulitzer Prize-winning production to life. This dynamite cast also includes Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu, Skylar Aleece Smith, and Corey Hawkins. Netflix had previously teamed with Washington and Denzel Washington on other adaptations from Wilson’s catalog. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom got rave reviews and awards consideration. This story of a Pittsburgh family should be much the same.
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The plays official website reads: “August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning masterwork The Piano Lesson returns to Broadway in the event of the season starring Academy Award winner Samuel L Jackson and Screen Actors Guild Award nominee John David Washington.”
“A battle is brewing in the Charles household at the center lies the family’s prize heirloom piano. On one side, a brother plans to build the family fortune by selling it. On the other, a sister will go to any length to keep and preserve their family history. Only their uncle stands in between. But even he can’t hold back the ghosts of the past.”
Honoring August Wilson’s Legacy With This Movie
Taking on any massive project like this is hard to begin. But director Malcolm Washington wanted to do right by the piano lesson and August Wilson’s legacy. In an open letter to TUDUM, the filmmaker explained his approach to adapting this play as a movie script. They had to be very delicate, and Washington hopes the fans of Wilson’s other works are satisfied with what they’ve put to screen.
“The process of adapting an American Classic is a terrifying and sacred undertaking. The early months felt most like an archeological expedition,” Washington admitted. “Co-writer Virgil Williams and I huddled around the table of his desert home, combing through August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, some days with a pickaxe, others with the soft bristles of a small brush delicately unearthing precious gems, driven by the pursuit of understanding the intent in each line, each action and each omission.”
“May this work be an offering to the ancestors, a humble act of gratitude and tribute to them, and in honoring them, I honor the spirit of August Wilson and the legacy he left behind for all of us,” he continued. “A legacy that thrives in the power of Danielle Deadwyler’s Berniece, the dynamism of John David Washington’s Boy Willie, and the understated brilliance that is Samuel L. Jackson’s Doaker.”
“Every family has a history, stories from the past that inform the present; an origin story. Ultimately this story is much bigger than me and my family — it, like the Black American experience, is an interconnected web of stories that span space and time,” the director argued. “I hope that when audiences experience our film, they see themselves on the screen and hear the voices of their ancestors calling to them, offering peace and protection.”
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