Read Malcolm Washington’s director’s statement about The Piano Lesson below:
The process of adapting an American Classic is a terrifying and sacred undertaking.
The early months felt most like an archeological expedition. 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.
Our first mandate was to honor and uphold the legacy of August Wilson; imbue his spirit into the work. I tried to open myself up to him and learn as much as I could. I read about his close relationship with his mother, that he grew up behind Bella’s Market — a small storefront that we honor in our film. I traveled to his neighborhood, Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District and walked the streets he grew up on, spoke to his family, all while digging deeper and deeper into his masterwork. I became a student of August Wilson but along the way a curious thing started to happen; the more I learned about August, the more I saw myself in his story and in his work. Boy Willie’s plight felt like much of my own, while I shared Berniece’s sensibilities and understanding of the gravity of legacy. That like Berniece and Boy Willie, part of my purpose is to honor the lives and legacies of my parents and our ancestors. That I too come from a long line of women and men, some born into, then liberated from chattel slavery and that my life is possible because of the decisions, sacrifices and actions of all of them; that it’s paramount for me to do something meaningful with it. That, in the words of Boy Willie, “I’m supposed to build on what they left me.” This was the guiding light for my work on this film, my buoy in the sea.
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. 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. 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.
The Piano Lesson is now streaming on Netflix. Listen to The Piano Lesson: The Official Podcast to learn more about the making of the film, and hear Washington and the cast share stories from behind-the-scenes.
