Best Of: Making 'The Piano Lesson' / Selena Gomez
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What is 'The Piano Lesson' about?
And the production of it was a family affair that included their sister Katia and their father, Denzel Washington, who both served as producers. We also hear from Selena Gomez. She stars in the new Spanish-language musical Amelia Perez. Gomez plays the wife of a brutal drug cartel leader who decides to undergo gender affirmation surgery. Gomez had to relearn Spanish to take on the role after losing her fluency as a kid. And film critic Justin Chang reviews Gladiator 2 and the musical Wicked. That's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend. This is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Tanya Mosley. And today, my guests are Malcolm and John David Washington. The brothers collaborated on the late August Wilson's The Piano Lesson for the screen on Netflix.
What was the family involvement in the production?
It's the fourth play in Wilson's American Century Cycle, a series of 10 plays inspired that captures the Black American experience through every decade of the 20th century. Malcolm serves as the director, and John David stars as the brash, impulsive, and fast-talking boy Willie, who wants to sell the family piano to buy land in Mississippi that his family was enslaved on. The family battle ensues between boy Willie and his sister Bernice, played by Danielle Dedweiler, who wants the family to hold on to the piano, a family heirloom engraved with their ancestors' faces. The production of this film was a family affair. The brothers' sister Katia and their father, Oscar-winning Denzel Washington, are producers.
And Denzel, who starred and co-produced in Wilson's Fences, has committed to adapting Wilson's plays into 10 films. Their mother, Pauletta Washington, even appears in the movie, starring as Mama Ola. The Piano Lesson is Malcolm Washington's directorial debut for a feature film, and John David portrayed Boy Willie in the Broadway revival of The Piano Lesson. He's also starred in several films, including Spike Lee's Black Klansman and Christopher Nolan's Time Travel Mindbender Tenet. John David and Malcolm Washington, welcome to Fresh Air. Thank you for having us. Hello. Yeah, thank you. That was quite an introduction. I was like, whoa. Well, I want to get right into our discussion about the film by playing a clip. And the story takes place in 1936. Bernice, played by Danielle Deadweiler, lives in Pittsburgh with the piano and her brother, boy Willie, played by you, John David. is a sharecropper in their hometown of Mississippi, and he's driven up to Pittsburgh in hopes of persuading Bernice to sell.
And their uncle, played by Samuel L. Jackson, explains why Bernice won't do it. He speaks first. Let's listen.
Bernice ain't gonna sell that piano because her daddy died over it.
All that's in the past. If my daddy... That scene where he could have traded that piano for some land of his own. We'll be sitting up here now. We spent this whole lot farming somebody else's land.
I ain't gonna do that.
That was my guest today, John David Washington, with Samuel L. Jackson in the Netflix film The Piano Lesson, directed by my other guest, Malcolm Washington. And, you know, this is such a Black American story that endures that yearning to pass down items of value up against this very real society.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is 'The Piano Lesson' about?
1:30–2:30
2
What was the family involvement in the production?
2:30–5:37
3
Why is the story of 'The Piano Lesson' urgent today?
5:37–13:43
4
How did John David Washington prepare for his role?
13:43–36:18
5
What influence did Denzel Washington have on his sons?
36:18
6
How does growing up in a privileged environment shape their identity?
18:22–33:36
7
What lessons did they learn from their parents?
33:36
8
How do they navigate fame and public perception?
30:13–50:13
Speakers
9 identifiedMore from Fresh Air
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