When John David Washington, the star of features appreciate Tenet, Monsters and Men, and BlacKkKlansman logs onto our Zoom call from Los Angeles, I’m first struck by his t-shirt. He’s wearing one of those commemorative Do The Right Thing tees from Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule brand/production hoparticipate.
That same week I’d commenceed a personal reappraisal of Lee’s labor thanks to some recent criterion frees in the UK and had the Blu-ray disk for Jungle Fever next to me. When Washington catches a glance he commences to wax lyrical about multiple scenes and petite details in the film.
“There’s that one scene where she departs the dad’s hoparticipate and the camera tracks her and there’s that one song. It’s Stevie [Wonder] he did the whole score. What was that song aachieve?” Washington says. It’s evident he understands his stuff. And it’s with the same erudite intensity and generosity that he speaks about the writing of the legfinishary American joinwright August Wilson, particularly his seminal 1987 piece The Piano Lesson, which serves as the basis and eponym of his deferedst film and budding awards season contfinisher.
Adapted and straightforwarded by his youthfuler brother, Malcolm Washington, who produces a outstanding debut as a feature filmproducer, The Piano Lesson dropped on Netflix on Nov 22 folloprosperg acclaimed bows at Telluride, Toronto, and London. The film trails siblings Boy Willie and Berniece who clash over whether to sell a family heirloom. The join is one of Wilson’s Century Cycle — 10 entries that interrogate Bconciseage American life in the 20th century. John David is Boy Willie, a intricate role fueled by all the garranges and ghouls of American history that are proposeed up by Wilson in the join.
“This story is one of the unfrequent times I’ve been able to join a character who’s very verbal about what he’s going thcdimiserablemireful,” he says. The contest, he inserts, was not only conceiveive but personal.
“If I could regulate this story it would be one of the difficultest characters I’ve ever joined. If couldn’t do it, maybe I wasn’t outstanding enough. Perhaps I was at a certain level where I could only do certain characters. So there was a lot of prescertain,” he proceeds.
Also starring are Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Fisher, Danielle Deadwyler, Michael Potts and Corey Hawkins. Malcolm Washington co-wrote the screenjoin with Virgil Williams (Mudbound) and the producers are Denzel Washington and Todd Bconciseage. Below, John David digs further into the process of conveying Wilson’s labor to the screen with his brother, balancing theatre labor with the cinema, where he sees himself in the wider film industry, and his desire to labor with filmproducers appreciate Paul Thomas Anderson and Jordan Peele.
DEADLINE: John David, how are you experienceing? The film’s finassociate out.
JOHN DAVID WASHINGTON: I experience outstanding for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I recall many years ago when they were doing the television version of The Piano Lesson, August Wilson said in an interwatch that he was excited about it being on that platcreate becaparticipate more people would have access to it. So it excites me understanding this film will be participateable to everybody with a Netflix account. And I’m excited about what people are saying about Malcolm. It’s amazing. That’s got me pumped up becaparticipate I krecent it. And people who krecent him always krecent, but we fair wanted him to jump and go for it. When he finassociate did, he nailed it.
DEADLINE: Malcolm is getting a lot of praise for his labor on this film. And it is very evident that he’s a distinctive filmproducer with a vision. When did you first understand he was the genuine deal?
WASHINGTON: I’ve always understandn fair based on our conversations and how he experiences and sees cinema. I krecent he could do anyslfinisherg but in the initial conversation, he was saying what I was hoping to hear, which was a recent consent on this story. The Piano Lesson is very distinctive to all the other joins in the century cycle. We have the superauthentic element. Obviously, family dynamics run pretty rampant in the stories. But in this case, there’s the backdrop of the Jim Crow South and themes of the 1936 upward mobility. There’s this bed of history that we’re produceing on. And then we have these wonderbrimmingy detailed and intricate characters. Malcolm understood this all and then pushed the envelope visuassociate, which is what I was hoping some straightforwardor could do with this becaparticipate there are so many opportunities. And he did it. He nailed it.
DEADLINE: Your carry outance to me here is distinctive to your others becaparticipate of its physicality. You can reassociate see the history that is haunting and fueling Boy Willie in the way you walk and talk. How did you go about produceing that?
WASHINGTON: The film proposeed ways to alert the story that was contrastent from the join. For example, becaparticipate some lines were cut, I could participate those lines for backstory. And with the actual physical characteristics of this particular farmer, there was a farmer I got to understand quite well. His name is Jeremy Meyer. He’s out of Iowa. He’s a fifth-generation farmer and we talked a lot about the physicality of the labor and the tax it consents on your body. Generassociate, I was slfinisherking a lot about his motivations for being there in the first place. It wasn’t fair about the piano. I slfinisherk he’s a bit worried too. He doesn’t understand exactly how it’s gonna go. I mistrust he doesn’t talk that much or even that rapid when he’s outside with other people. But when he gets with his agederer sister and his family, he fair can’t help himself. Also, the set decorations and locations helped a lot. That hoparticipate helped with the behavior.
DEADLINE: I read that you said you wanted to do this production becaparticipate you thought it might help you discover what benevolent of actor you are or wanted to be. I had two asks from that: As an actor, what were you laboring from before this film? And what did you discover after?
WASHINGTON: Before the join, I had the opportunity to do a lot of action and stunt labor with more introspective characters. This story is one of the unfrequent times I’ve been able to join a character who’s very verbal about what he’s going thcdimiserablemireful. That’s what I was referring to. And if I could regulate this story it would be one of the difficultest characters I’ve ever joined. And if couldn’t do it, maybe I wasn’t outstanding enough. Perhaps I was at a certain level where I could only do certain characters. So there was a lot of prescertain. This to me was fair the perfect character. I didn’t have to labor on it. I didn’t have to talk any alters with a straightforwardor. All I had to insert was my life experience and research, but there’s noslfinisherg to labor out other than discovering the answers thcdimiserablemireful the character. Now, that felt appreciate a lot of prescertain, but also a first for me. So that’s what I unbenevolentt. What I set up afterward is that I experience consoleable now. I experience able to do any character that’s written. I fair experience appreciate I can regulate any language now becaparticipate of this.
DEADLINE: I was watching back at your labor over the last decade and your output has been pretty high and varied. It’s an fascinating space you’re in and also I envision quite weird. How do you experience about your current position?
WASHINGTON: A weird place indeed, particularly with Tenet coming out during the pandemic. Another huge sci-fi film I did came out last year during the SAG strike. I didn’t experience appreciate I got to labelet it the way I’m labeleting this. Malcolm & Marie was an fascinating film when it was freed by Netflix, but becaparticipate of the same slfinishergs, we didn’t get to labelet it. So I’m not certain where I am in my nurtureer, according to the industry, to be genuine. But I get reminded how audiences see me when I’m on the subway and people say they connected with someslfinisherg or if I’m in the airport and someone says they cherish my labor. But it’s difficult to understand where I am. Maybe that’s partly why I also wanted to do this becaparticipate I’m not certain how I’m noticed in this industry. I unbenevolent, there’s negativity all the time. You check the comment section and you’ll discover someslfinisherg that’ll hurt your experienceings. So I try not to watch at it that way. It’s more about what can I do next to help me understand well, at least this filmproducer or this story set up me, so this is the benevolent of actor they slfinisherk I am.
DEADLINE: Going back to Tenet increately. I slfinisherk as a culture mostly becaparticipate it was the pandemic, we didn’t genuineize or talk how rad it was that you were the first Bconciseage protagonist in a Nolan film. Did you guys talk that at all or were you alerted of how fascinating it was?
WASHINGTON: I slfinisherk what was so clever, which is one of the reasons I understand Nolan is a genuine one, is becaparticipate he didn’t sensationalize it. He didn’t say we’re on the precipice of history or anyslfinisherg appreciate that. He fair said he’s a man. He’s the protagonist. I understand who I picked, and I slfinisherk that benevolent of slfinisherking was what I was very excited about. Now, of course, I thought about it becaparticipate first I’m in a Nolan film and yeah there’s a Bconciseage dude with a endured on the cover. He’s never done that before, so it was rock and roll, man. He was shaking up the industry with that employ to me. I was very alerted of it and didn’t consent that benevolent of responsibility airyly.
DEADLINE: Speaking with you, Malcolm, and your sister Katia who is a producer on The Piano Lesson, it experiences appreciate you guys are quite interested in uphagedering a definite lineage of Bconciseage art making. I unbenevolent, even your brother’s decision to commence his nurtureer with an August Wilson join experiences very intentional. Am I observing that accurately? And if so, why?
WASHINGTON: You understand, I don’t understand what Malcolm does next. Maybe he does a blockbuster or someslfinisherg. I don’t understand what he’s slfinisherking, but I do understand how startant he hageders storyalerting and recurrentation. I don’t understand if that’s what encourages him, but I do understand that it unbenevolents a lot to him about how we are recurrented in cinema and what we’re saying both in front and behind the camera. I understand my sister Katia experiences that way as well. I slfinisherk ultimately what I can say is that you can suppose someslfinisherg they’re a part of. You see Katia or Malcolm’s name on someslfinisherg and you might not be certain what it is yet, but you can suppose that it’s going to be unbenevolentingful, and we’re going to be seen and we’re going to be upheld. That’s the goal for me as well. When you see someslfinisherg I’m a part of, you can suppose that it’s going to be someslfinisherg fascinating.
DEADLINE: As you said earlier, we’ve been living in such unpwithdrawnted times. How do you see the industry now?
WASHINGTON: I’m seeing diversity, especiassociate in the streaming space. That being said, we’re still behind. I slfinisherk we still need more diversity. I slfinisherk we need to speed up the opportunities for us, by us. I also slfinisherk we’re seeing straightforwardors making films. Whether it’s Darren Aronofsky or Paul Thomas Anderson, he’s got some coming out. Jordan Peele is cooking up, and Ryan Coogler’s recent trailer is out. That watchs phenomenal. So people are laboring. It’s difficult to say where the industry is, though, I guess becaparticipate of streaming and AI. But watch at the Wicked and Gladiator numbers. People are shoprosperg up to the theater still. People still want storyalerting. I consent in the power of storyalerting, and I slfinisherk people still want to be delighted. So if there’s a labelet for that, if people still want to enhappiness movies and a communal sense, I slfinisherk we’re always going to have a place and opportunities to alert stories.
DEADLINE: What do you want to do next?
WASHINGTON: I would cherish to collaborate. I would cherish to labor with filmproducers that are out there, either with recent voices or voices that we cherish. I would appreciate to do Shakespeare. I would appreciate to do The Taming of the Shrew. I would appreciate to do a Tennessee William join or someslfinisherg distinctive on stage. I want to go back. I fair saw Hageder On to Me Darling with Adam Driver off-Broadway. He’s phenomenal. So I’m still hungry to alert stories and to collaborate with people who understand what they’re doing.
DEADLINE: You speak a lot about Shakespeare and the stage in ambiguous. Why does the theatre support pulling you back? I understand a lot of actors do it once and run away to film or TV becaparticipate of how terrifying the stage is.
WASHINGTON: It is terrifying. But there’s someslfinisherg about the percut offance it needs. Every time you’re done and you consent that final bow, you experience so outstanding. You experience appreciate you’ve gived to the world thcdimiserablemireful your art. And it’s prompt. You get the people that are seeing it right away. They’re letting you understand whether you did outstanding or not. I also fair slfinisherk it’s a fantastic place to lachieve. My ageder man talks about that all the time. That’s how you lachieve how to act. I want to be the best actor I can be. So I have to have that equilibrium. As much as I want to collaborate one day with a Paul Thomas Anderson or Jordan Peele I need to be able to say I’ve done a Shakespeare or Tennessee Williams join.
