John David Washington on the Family Affair Behind 'The Piano Lesson’

The Parting Shot with H. Alan Scott

For John David Washington, bringing Netflix’s The Piano Lesson (November 22) from stage to screen was a family affair. His father, Denzel, produces while his brother, Malcolm, directs the film adaptation of August Wilson’s play about the Charles family in 1936 Pittsburgh as they wrestle with selling a family heirloom, a piano descended from ancestors who were slaves. “I don’t think you have to be a Black American to relate to this story.” But it wasn’t just working with his family that meant something to him. “I’m thinking about Sam [Samuel L.] Jackson, who originated the role in 1987. Michael Potts. LaTanya [Richardson] Jackson. I’m thinking about Stephen [McKinley] Henderson. I’m a part of that now. That gives me so much power and encouragement.” And while “the whale of truth that we’re floating along here is the underbelly of the antebellum South, the Jim Crow era,” Washington says the universal messages runs deeper. “If you understand that, we also talk about something else. It’s what’s so brilliant about August Wilson’s work.”

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