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Transcript
00:00The Piano Lesson is a story that centers on a brother and sister's disagreement on what
00:15to do with the family heirloom.
00:16Underneath the surface is a story about ancestry, legacy, and how the decisions that our ancestors
00:22made affect the lives we live today.
00:25When I first read The Piano Lesson, I was in a place in my life where I was digitizing
00:32a bunch of family photos and I was looking at the faces of my ancestors and thinking
00:37about the lives that they lived and the connection to my own.
00:40So when I actually read the text itself, it really spoke, that element spoke to me in
00:45a way that forced me to engage in the material in a meaningful way.
00:50So it wasn't like I came to The Piano Lesson, The Piano Lesson kind of came to me and forced
00:54me to engage with these bigger ideas and these concepts that were just happening in
00:57my life at that time.
01:01There's a great actor by the name of Samuel L. Jackson who came to The Piano Lesson as
01:08early as anybody, originating the role in 1987.
01:13And he blessed our movie as well and he's in our project.
01:17So Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington came to it first.
01:22Well I got involved with the play first and it was my mission to be able to take on what
01:27I thought was going to be one of the greatest challenges of my career and I felt like if
01:32I can do this, if I don't fail, then I think I deserve to act and do it for a long time.
01:40So it was really about the play for me first and then when I found out that he was directing
01:44the movie, I got very excited and of course I was on board after that.
01:47The physical demand, the words, the spherical way August Wilson writes and how layered the
01:52characters are, the family dynamic, the universal themes in it.
01:58He's saying one thing but meaning another.
02:00There's a target he's aiming at but he's looking the other way.
02:03I love characters that are like that, that are contradictory.
02:05I like stories that are about family and how dynamic and complicated love is.
02:10Everybody has a different love language.
02:11So there were so many different themes and parallels to my life that I needed to work
02:16out cathartically and I think through this character I was able to do that and with this
02:20group of people.
02:22I was offered a conversation with a brilliant man named Malcolm and we talked endlessly
02:28about stuff around the play, not necessarily even digging into the play.
02:33We found we had like minds and I'll do whatever he asks nowadays.
02:38But yeah, I've always grown up around August Wilson's works, reading them, participating
02:46in readings, seeing the productions from Atlanta.
02:49Kenny Leon has done them with his True Colors Theater production a lot, from his theater
02:54production company to the Alliance Theater.
02:57These works have just been a part of my bones and my DNA and the people who have been a
03:02part of them have been a part of my bones and DNA and my rearing and so when you get
03:07the opportunity to do them, you do them and you do them with people who you love and respect.
03:11I came to it, I did the play with both Ray and JD and also because I'd done the Ma Rainey
03:19film prior to that and I had worked with their father on another, on a Eugene O'Neill piece.
03:25So that kind of led to, you know, me being asked to do this.
03:32They were nice enough to ask me.
03:34I participated in the Broadway run of The Piano Lesson, The Arrival, directed by Latonya
03:39Richardson-Jackson, so a big shout out to her for helping to assemble all of us in some
03:44way here.
03:45It definitely laid the groundwork for us being able to put on screen what folks were able
03:50to witness on stage and it's been a blessing getting to know the piece.
03:55This is my first August Wilson really anything and it's been a blessing to get to know the
03:59material but also to get to know the material, the people that you have grown to love and
04:03call family.
04:04I've known August Wilson's work and grew up on it, just been sort of salivating over an
04:10opportunity to work on an August Wilson piece and they were doing Piano Lesson and a couple
04:18blocks down the street we were doing Top Dog on Broadway at the same time and I've known
04:23Malcolm for a long time but also he came to see the show and I think it wasn't until after
04:29we closed we had a conversation about it and he asked me to come on board as Reverend
04:34Avery and I was honored.
04:38I was like yeah, you know I think I mean I just I was just like there's no you know when
04:44you believe in somebody's vision and you believe in their talent and potential there's no sort
04:50of back and forth about it I was just like whatever you need man I'm there and I truly
04:54believe that and I believe he crafted, he assembled an incredible team not just the
04:59people you see here but also creatively on the other side of the camera and we're fortunate
05:06to be able to bring this piece to the world and add to the canon.
05:13When I started working on this project one of the mandates that I set for myself was
05:17I wanted to make a film that I could see myself in and that could appeal to somebody like
05:22me and I think Mr. Wilson's work has stood the test of time and I wanted to hold it to
05:30that standard right so I wanted to make a work that was accessible to audiences accessible
05:35to young people and so that they could see their themselves in the story see their mothers
05:41their grandmothers their great grandmothers on the screen and know that they are connected
05:45to this much larger powerful lineage.
05:48I would love for the effect to be the reclamation of one's heritage and of their legacy and
05:52of their story hopefully this inspires folks to talk about their family histories amongst
05:57themselves so they can form some sort of clarity get some sort of some sort of cohesive story
06:05about where they are where they've came from and where they may be going I think in a time
06:11like now where there is so much confusion and so much chaos in the world and a lot of
06:15different avenues I think it's extremely important that we check in with one another especially
06:19those that are closest to us.
06:20I think within that is it is loving confrontation if you do not confront then you will not know
06:28right there's this battle between a brother and sister that is happening in the film but
06:35you have to come to an understanding by addressing if they did if they did not at all then what
06:41would you know what would become of it right so I'm trying to find a loving engagement
06:47with each other it's critical for just our longevity of family and culture and global
06:57life yeah.