Denzel Washington and his sons put together the searing drama ‘The Piano Lesson.’ But here’s the film’s secret weapon

Back in 2016, Denzel Washington produced, directed and starred in a film adaptation of the August Wilson play “Fences,” which earned his co-star Viola Davis an Academy Award.
Now, eight years later, Washington’s son Malcolm is in the director’s chair for another Wilson adaptation produced by Denzel, “The Piano Lesson.” And this time there’s lots of Oscar buzz around the powerhouse performance of another woman, Danielle Deadwyler.
Best known for playing the mother of murdered teen Emmett Till in 2022’s “Till,” Deadwyler is astonishing here, particularly in the climactic scene involving the titular instrument, a priceless heirloom that contains a Black family’s legacy carved into it with blood, sweat, tears and a whole lot of intergenerational trauma.
Deadwyler’s widowed character, Berniece, born in the South but now living in Pittsburgh in the 1930s with her Uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson) and daughter Maretha (Skylar Aleece Smith), has refused to sell the piano, even though her fast-talking brother, Boy Willie (John David Washington, another of Denzel’s sons), newly arrived from Mississippi, wants to use it to buy the land that their ancestors worked on as slaves.
During the riveting scene, Berniece, who hasn’t touched the piano in years, finally sits down at its keys and conjures up some big drama.
“It felt like I was surrendering to something,” Deadwyler told the Star before the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
“We shot it over a couple of days, because Malcolm wanted us to understand the storm whirling around that climax,” she said. “There’s both an exorcism and a possession occurring at the same time: someone coming out of who they once were and someone coming into who they must be.”
During the 36-day shoot, news broke that pioneering Black entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte had died. That, Deadwyler said, added to the feeling of ghosts haunting the set.
“We literally felt ancestors inhabiting the space,” she said. The day before the TIFF premiere, another Black icon — James Earl Jones, who was long associated with Wilson’s work — passed away.
“The presence of ancestors in the room can feel so weighted, and yet light at the same time,” she said, clearly moved. “You have to bear it all.”
That last phrase could be a motto for Berniece. (Deadwyler’s also getting raves as a postapocalyptic farmer in Canadian Jennifer Holness’ “40 Acres,” which premiered at TIFF and will be released in 2025.)
Besides digging deeply into Wilson’s script, Deadwyler found inspiration in the life and work of Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston, who helped chronicle the lives and experiences of southern Black women in the north.
“Hurston was such a key figure of that time in the way she moved through the world,” Deadwyler said. “Berniece didn’t have that but could have if things hadn’t impeded her liberty.”
Anyone who wants to study the art of film acting need only watch how Deadwyler’s Berniece — even when she’s not speaking — reacts differently to each character on the screen, including her uncle, her brother, her current boyfriend and another man who might just be able to win her heart.
“Language is in the body, it’s not always coming from the mouth,” said the actor. “Homing in on specific relationships is pivotal to building the world of this film.”
She had a blast working with Jackson who, along with John David, starred in the recent Broadway revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
“Sam is just a delight,” she said, smiling. “He’s got so many stories, he’s always making you laugh. You’re going to get an expletive here and there, but everything needs colour and flavour. He knows the whole (script), line by line. If you need a line, he’ll give it to you. That kind of fulcrum is important. He centres every scene.”
The man steering the ship, however, was first-time director Malcolm, whom Deadwyler says understood her soul.
“We spoke the same language, we connected on a level that didn’t even have to do with the film,” said the actor. “I instantly trusted him, and knew that he could lead this project.”
It didn’t take long for Oscar winner Denzel and his producing partner Todd Black to also be convinced that Malcolm was the right person to direct.
“Malcolm said he had a take on the material and put together a short film, which was amazing,” Denzel told the Star. “I was like, ‘Whoa — do you want to make the movie?’ And he said he wanted to write the script first. Which he did (with co-writer Virgil Williams).”
“Malcolm offered up a really cool, different vision of the film than what Denzel and I had imagined,” said Black, whose collaboration with the older Washington began with 2002’s “Antoine Fisher.”
“It was very visual and cinematic, and we both liked it a lot. Then we went to Netflix, and they liked it. It all happened organically.”
The producing partners intend to capture all 10 of Wilson’s “Century Cycle” plays — one for each decade of the 20th century — on film. “Piano Lesson” is the third, after “Fences,” set in the 1950s, and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” set in the 1920s and directed by George C. Wolfe.
“We’re sniffing around for the next film,” Denzel said. “We’ll get to it after birthing this baby.”
Speaking of babies, Denzel and his wife, actor Pauletta Pearson, clearly enjoyed the profession enough to inspire all four of their children to pursue careers in the entertainment industry. Malcolm’s twin sister, Olivia, like John David, is an actor, while Katia is a producer.
Does that mean he and his wife set good examples?
“I hope so,” Denzel said, laughing. “My wife’s a real movie buff, and so they all grew up watching films. Maybe if I had been a plumber, they would have all wanted to be plumbers, too.”