Streaming on Netflix beginning November 22nd is ‘The Piano Lesson,’ a film adaptation of the 1990 play by legendary playwright August Wilson. John David Washington stars as Boy Willie Charles, a sharecropper and ex-con who returns with his partner Lymon (Ray Fisher) to the Pittsburgh home of his uncle, Doaker Charles (Samuel L. Jackson), in 1936 with the intention of selling the family heirloom piano that sits in Doaker’s front room.
Boy Willie intends to use the money to buy the land formerly belonging to the now-dead James Sutter, who owned the Charles family during the days of slavery. But his sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler), who lives with her daughter Maretha (Skylar Aleece Smith) in her uncle’s house, is adamant that the piano stay right where it is, as a connection to the spirits of the Charles family’s ancestors, some of whom may still be present in the piano and the household.
A meditation on legacy, history, and coming to terms with the past, ‘The Piano Lesson’ is one of 10 plays written by Wilson that are known collectively as the ‘Pittsburgh Cycle’ or the ‘Century Cycle,’ which provide an overview of life for Black Americans in the 20th century. Each play is set in a different decade, while all but one take place in Pittsburgh, where Wilson grew up.
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‘The Piano Lesson’ is the first film directed by Malcolm Washington, son of producer Denzel Washington and brother of John David Washington. Malcolm and John’s dad has been tasked by the Wilson family with adapting all 10 of Wilson’s plays for the screen, a project that began in 2016 with ‘Fences’ (which Denzel starred in and directed) and continued in 2020 with ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,’ which the elder Washington produced. With Malcolm and John David both involved with ‘The Piano Lesson,’ bringing the work of one of the most important Black voices in the American arts to the screen has become a true family affair.
Denzel, John David, and Malcolm Washington all participated in a virtual press conference for the film, along with producer Todd Black and fellow cast members Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins, and Michael Potts, during which Moviefone learned a lesson or two about the making of ‘The Piano Lesson.’
1) Malcolm Washington Says Why He Wanted To Film ‘The Piano Lesson’
With a dad who’s a director, producer, and one of the greatest living actors of his time, and a brother who’s also a rising young star on stage and screen, Malcolm Washington explained why ‘The Piano Lesson’ became his entry into the family business.
Malcolm Washington: I think it was an incredible opportunity to work with just great artists. That was really exciting. In terms of making it a film, I love cinema. I love filmmaking. I love watching films. It’s the language I speak. So I think having an opportunity to take some of the themes that are so resonant in the story and expand on them and visualize them and explore them in a new language was the most exciting, and I thought a way to honor the work in its purest essence.
2) Denzel Washington Reveals The Secret Force Behind The Film
The Oscar-winning actor said that his wife, Pauletta Pearson, was a driving force behind getting their son Malcolm to direct “The Piano Lesson.”
Denzel Washington: The real producer isn’t here. Which is their mom. She’s the real producer. She actually said to me, you know, “Malcolm’s got some ideas. You should talk to him and put some things together,” and that’s kind of, I think, how it started.
3) Malcolm Washington Sought Out Advice From A Filmmaking Hero
Once he was confirmed to direct “The Piano Lesson,” Malcolm Washington spoke with filmmaking legend Spike Lee, a personal hero and influence.
Malcolm Washington: I called him when I first started this project. One of the first things he said was how important choosing your collaborators are. Spike’s built that community as a filmmaker both behind the camera, in front of the camera, above the line, below the line, with a diversity of opinions and thoughts and experiences. So that was the first thing that I went after, both in our cast and our crew. People from varied backgrounds, different world views, different life experiences all came together to lend a voice to this.
4) Several Of The Cast Members Performed The Play Together
John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, and Samuel L. Jackson all appeared in the 2022 Broadway revival of ‘The Piano Lesson,’ which Ray Fisher said was an important dynamic that carried over to the movie.
Ray Fisher: From the stage version to the film version, I think we did form this sort of familial vibe amongst ourselves. It was a privilege to be able to work with these guys for months on end under the direction of LaTanya Richardson Jackson, who, were it not for her efforts, we wouldn’t be sitting here having this conversation with you here today…I think it helped us to just build and bond and learn to trust one another. Whatever happened on stage, I knew J.D. had my back, I knew Michael had my back, I knew Sam had my back, and vice-versa. I think that’s one of the bigger things that carried over, just that trust in one another to be there when you need them.
5) An Early Cast And Crew Event Set The Tone
Malcolm Washington recalled that when the cast and crew got together at the start of production, the chemistry between everyone working on the film was immediate.
Malcolm Washington: For real, we did a cast and crew dinner before we shot. And it was everybody around the table. Normally, moments like that, you’re kind of nervous going in. You feel like, it can be awkward. Everybody’s kind of coming together for the first time. But it was just nonstop stories and laughter — the more experienced gentlemen telling their stories, and the newer guys kind of just taking it all in. But I remember turning to Corey [Hawkins] and we were just laughing. I was like, yeah, this is what the movie is. It’s sharing stories from generation to generation. It’s coming together at this table and sharing experience.
6) The Newest Member Of The Cast Upped The Movie’s Game
In the film, Danielle Deadwyler plays Berniece, who is steadfast in her refusal to sell the family piano despite her brother’s insistence on doing so. With credits like ‘Till,’ ‘The Harder They Fall,’ and ‘Station Eleven’ to her name, Malcolm Washington said that Deadwyler introduced a whole new energy to ‘The Piano Lesson.’
Malcolm Washington: Yeah, Danielle was just an incredible talent. There was something that was so exciting about unleashing her on these gentlemen back here. Because she’s just a force of nature, and she changes the dynamic in the room when she enters it. So watching that happen every day, scene after scene, week after week, it was a master class.
7) The Other Major New Addition To The Cast
The other member of the main cast not carried over from the Broadway production is Corey Hawkins (‘In The Heights,’ ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’), who plays a preacher named Avery Brown. Avery, who is in love with the widowed Berniece, tries to vanquish the spirits from the Charles house, going so far as to speak in tongues while blessing their home.
John David Washington: You mentioned an incredible actress in Danielle, and here’s another one right here [gestures to Corey Hawkins]. Their energy and what they brought to the piece, it really opened it up even more so. We know that that was the game plan for Malcolm. Visually, cinematically, he was going to open it up. But from a performance standpoint, what [Hawkins] brings, the sequence at the end when he starts speaking in tongues and just set the tone, I didn’t know where that came from. But you couldn’t deny the energy and the spirits in the room that he started. So just playing off that and knowing we had our chemistry coming from the play was very exciting.
8) How The Play Became The Movie
Like any play, ‘The Piano Lesson’ is limited to what can be done and shown on a single stage. Malcolm Washington said that the goal of the movie was to widen the story’s scope while remaining true to the spirit of the play.
Malcolm Washington: I think the biggest kind of spiritual approach we took to it was to re-imagine it and re-interpret it for a new medium. So that was visualizing and imagining, what are the characters’ dreams? What are their wants? What do they imagine for themselves? How can we build out the world around them and present that to the audience? There’s a lot of new things, like the Crawford Grill sequence, the Erykah Badu sequence, the whole beginning and ending. That all is very new and recontextualizes what the story is that lives within it, and we wanted to push all of that, as well as all the genre stuff. We were coming in to tell this ghost story that was actually a story about American history and musings on Black American spiritual practices, but all within this guise of a ghost story that we’re able to push to the forefront. So I think it was more a re-imagining of these things and these themes, and how can we tell that story cinematically.
9) ‘The Piano Lesson’ Touches On The Spiritual Aspect Of Black History
Although on the surface ‘The Piano Lesson’ could be described as a ghost story, Denzel Washington said that there is a much deeper meaning to the spiritual aspects of the play, embodied by the faces of the Charles family’s ancestors carved into the woodwork of the piano.
Denzel Washington: Our connection to our ancestors all the way back to Africa is a real thing. It’s a tangible, spiritual, real thing that you can feel. I remember asking my mother when I started to make it as an actor. I said, “Ma, you ever think?” She said, “Boy, all the people been praying for you — all the souls that were sacrificed for you.” You start thinking about it that way. All of those that look like us, that never made it, that got hung, that got shot, that got killed, whatever, generation after generation after generation. All of that is in us. We go down in there and it’s scary too. It’s in there and it comes out in ways that you can’t calculate. It’s not Method [acting], you know? It’s spiritual.
10) Bringing The Work Of August Wilson To New Audiences
Producer Todd Black, who also produced ‘Fences’ and ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ alongside Denzel Washington, said that their ultimate goal is to film all 10 plays of Wilson’s ‘Century Cycle.’
7GvVdcYzWh4M6iW1GBAyHTodd Black: Well, Denzel was asked by Constanza Wilson and the estate to kind of shepherd, if you will, the 10 plays. Then [since] we worked together a lot, he came to me, and we talked about it. It’s an incredible honor. You get to bring one of the greatest playwrights ever in the world to the big screen. People don’t understand, theater is a smaller audience, and not everyone has the opportunity to see August Wilson’s work. So to get to put it in the theater and put it on Netflix, so many more people get to see it. It’s a huge responsibility. It lives forever. So we feel very, very responsible for bringing all of these with the right people at the helm and the right actors. Certainly, we couldn’t have gotten luckier with these actors. We are planning on doing the next one. We’re not going to announce what that is yet, but the goal is to do all 10 of them.
What is the plot of ‘The Piano Lesson’?
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh during the aftermath of the Great Depression, ‘The Piano Lesson’ follows the lives of the Charles family in the Doaker Charles (Samuel L. Jackson) household and an heirloom, the family piano, which is decorated with designs carved by an enslaved ancestor.
Who is in the cast of ‘The Piano Lesson’?
- Samuel L. Jackson as Doaker Charles
- John David Washington as Boy Willie Charles
- Ray Fisher as Lymon
- Michael Potts as Wining Boy Charles
- Erykah Badu as Lucille
- Skylar Aleece Smith as Maretha Charles
- Danielle Deadwyler as Berniece Charles
- Corey Hawkins as Avery Brown
- Melanie Jeffcoat as Miss Ophelia
- Gail Bean as Dolly
- Jerrika Hinton as Grace
- Stephan James as Boy Charles
- Malik J. Ali as Willie Boy
- Jay Peterson as James Sutter
- Matrell Smith as Crawley
List of Denzel Washington Movies and TV Shows:
- ‘St. Elsewhere‘ (1982 – 1988)
- ‘Cry Freedom‘ (1987)
- ‘The Mighty Quinn‘ (1989)
- ‘Glory‘ (1990)
- ‘Mo’ Better Blues‘ (1990)
- ‘Ricochet‘ (1991)
- ‘Malcolm X‘ (1992)
- ‘The Pelican Brief‘ (1993)
- ‘Philadelphia‘ (1994)
- ‘Crimson Tide‘ (1995)
- ‘Virtuosity‘ (1995)
- ‘Devil in a Blue Dress‘ (1995)
- ‘Courage Under Fire‘ (1996)
- ‘He Got Game‘ (1998)
- ‘The Siege‘ (1998)
- ‘Fallen‘ (1998)
- ‘The Bone Collector‘ (1999)
- ‘The Hurricane‘ (1999)
- ‘Remember the Titans‘ (2000)
- ‘John Q‘ (2002)
- ‘Antwone Fisher‘ (2003)
- ‘Out of Time‘ (2003)
- ‘Man on Fire‘ (2004)
- ‘The Manchurian Candidate‘ (2004)
- ‘Déjà Vu‘ (2006)
- ‘Inside Man‘ (2006)
- ‘American Gangster‘ (2007)
- ‘The Great Debaters‘ (2007)
- ‘The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3‘ (2009)
- ‘The Book of Eli‘ (2010)
- ‘Unstoppable‘ (2010)
- ‘Safe House‘ (2012)
- ‘Flight‘ (2012)
- ‘2 Guns‘ (2013)
- ‘The Equalizer‘ (2014)
- ‘Fences‘ (2016)
- ‘The Magnificent Seven‘ (2016)
- ‘Roman J. Israel, Esq.‘ (2017)
- ‘The Equalizer 2‘ (2018)
- ‘The Little Things‘ (2021)
- ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth‘ (2021)
- ‘A Journal for Jordan‘ (2021)
- ‘The Equalizer 3‘ (2023)
- ‘Gladiator II‘ (2024)
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