Yahoo Lifestyle Denzel and Pauletta Washington's Son Malcolm Was Inspired by Grandfather on “The Piano Lesson ”Set: 'He Is Guiding Me'
Malcolm Washington had support from family members — living and dead — in directing August Wilson’s ‘The Piano Lesson’
Courtesy of Netflix
(Left-right:) Danielle Deadwyler, Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Ray Fisher in 'The Piano Lesson'Malcolm Washington, son of Denzel and Pauletta Washington, had support from family members — living and dead — while making his new movie.
“A big part of [The Piano Lesson] was based on my grandfather,” the director, 33, revealed in an interview with Deadline published Monday, Nov. 18. Pauletta’s father, he said, “passed away when I was eight years old. But as you can imagine, he was a big influence on my mom.”
That influence extended to Malcolm in co-writing and making his feature film directorial debut with the screen adaptation of August Wilson’s seminal play The Piano Lesson (in theaters now and streaming on Netflix Nov. 22), about a family heirloom piano engraved with ancestors’ faces. Starring John David Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Deadwyler and more, it has picked up multiple festival honors since its premiere at Telluride in August, including a Gotham Award Ensemble Tribute for the cast.
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(Left-right:) Pauletta Washington, Malcolm Washington and Denzel Washington on Sept. 10Pauletta “always talked to me about [her father] and how I reminded her of him and that his qualities live in me,” said Malcolm. “When I think of what I want to be as a man, I think of him even though we only shared my first eight years of life together.”
He added, “in this way, he is guiding me.”
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Furthermore, Malcolm recalled finding video tapes his grandfather had agreed to record, in which he talked “about his philosophy of love, spirituality and the history of his life.” Pauletta “could never watch the tapes and never did anything with them… I cut them together on Father’s Day into a little clip and sent it to her.”
As he was grappling with family legacy in adapting Wilson’s classic drama, Malcolm continued, “I felt like I was watching this man teach me from a conversation he had 20 years before about who I can be.”
Courtesy of Netflix
John David Washington and Skylar Smith in 'The Piano Lesson'His grandfather’s face “is adorned in the piano” in the film, he said, “because his spirit was in this project and in the room with us.” Also embedded in the film: Malcolm dedicated it to his mother.
The Piano Lesson, costarring Erykah Badu, Skylar Aleece Smith, Jerrika Hinton, Gail Bean and Corey Hawkins, is in theaters now and on Netflix Nov. 22.
