A new film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning August Wilson play The Piano Lesson is now on Netflix. It's about a brother and sister battling over what to do with a family heirloom piano. Denzel Washington and his daughter Katia served as producers, and his sons John David and Malcolm starred in and directed it. The brothers talk about bringing the play to the screen. Also, we hear from Selena Gomez about the Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez. Gomez plays the wife of a brutal drug cartel leader who decides to undergo gender-affirmation surgery. Film critic Justin Chang reviews blockbusters Wicked and Gladiator II.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: 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.
Chapter 2: 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.
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Chapter 3: Why is the story of 'The Piano Lesson' urgent today?
Yeah, I think it's really, really, really important for people to learn their history, both ancestral and just culturally. Know where you come from and acknowledge it. Because we're living in a time where... People are trying to rewrite history or erase people from history and their contributions.
So it's kind of incumbent upon all of us to reclaim our stories, you know, and proclaim them and declare them who we are as a people, who we are as a culture and identity. All these things are super urgent to reclaim.
You also wanted to bring a modern touch to this. And I mean, August Wilson is one of the greatest playwrights of our time. So, I mean, this material is just right. But I can imagine that's also intimidating, possibly. What was your first step in bringing your director's touch to what is well-established material?
Yeah, it was intimidating, but it was also very exciting. The first step was putting this in a context, a historical context, understanding the moment that the play was written in, the moment that it's speaking to, that it's set in. It was about learning...
as much as I could about August Wilson, his considerations as a writer, who he was as a man, where he's from, what he stood on, his belief system. Understand all these things about him and his intentions so that you can kind of pass it through the prism of yourself and bring your voice to it, but always trying to serve this kind of bigger thing.
John David, in the scene that we played, you were in character with Samuel L. Jackson, who actually originally played Boy Willie in 1987. And in this film, he plays the uncle to Bernice and Boy Willie. His performance, it's quiet, it's contemplative. He exudes kind of like this wise knowing as he watches you. And for me, it was a little bit emotional.
I'm like going through this moment where I'm looking at all of our actors as we move through time and they age. It was just emotional to watch, knowing his history with the character. What was it like for you to watch him watch you, both in the Broadway version and in this movie?
That's an interesting observation because I think that was happening for me too, just his relationship to the play, which he's been very public about. And what he represents as a black African-American actor in this industry, there was a lot of things working at the same time. Well, we can start with the word intimidating. Yeah. Right.
You know, pressure filled is some words also that come to mind when thinking about or reflecting about my experience, particularly on stage every night saying these words that he's perfected, that he helped sort of erect and inspire. and get to Broadway, you know? So there was a lot of pressure there, but I felt so encouraged because of how he supported us.
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Chapter 4: How did John David Washington prepare for his role?
Yeah.
I noticed... And John David Crowe, by the way.
Don't leave John David Crowe out.
Right.
That's right.
That's right. Both cousins. Right. Right. You know, I noticed how in interviews, both of you guys, you kind of say it offhandedly, but you regularly rep Los Angeles as your hometown. And... I want to know what does it mean for the both of you to identify not only as Angelenos, but, you know, you're Black Angelenos. And then you also come from like a very privileged section of that then as well.
I mean, how did growing up here influence your art and your taste?
I love LA so much. I think LA is just an incredible city. There's so many amazing cultures that come together there. It's a place that's both a physical place and metaphysical in that when people think about it, there's an idea of what LA is, and then there's kind of a lived experience of what LA is. I like that it operates on a couple different fronts. I think that it...
functions kind of like how Pittsburgh functions in, in our story, the piano lesson, where it's a, it's a place, especially for black people. It's a place where, um, in the great migration, so many black people came in search of opportunity to build a new life, to build themselves up.
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Chapter 5: What influence did Denzel Washington have on his sons?
Chapter 6: How does growing up in a privileged environment shape their identity?
I want to ask you guys about something else. And I want to see if I can formulate it right. But like, how do you deal with the heat of fandom and desire? Because I mean, your dad, for instance, is not only a great actor, you're already laughing, but your dad's already already know, of course, he's a great actor, but he's also like every mom and every auntie's crush. And
Fine in every generation, right?
Fine in every generation, right. And now you guys are continuing the torch. I actually just picked up an L.A. magazine, and John David, you're on the cover looking like a sex symbol, you know?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Let the people know. Oh, boy. Just let them not know, okay?
I'm just curious. What's the question? Period. No. Period, yeah. What did, like, I'm wondering, what did your dad teach you or what lessons did you learn from watching him when it comes to navigating that energy and that heat that like throngs of fans throw towards you? Because, I mean, I can't even imagine what your DMs might be like, you know?
Oh, my God. Who's listening to this? This is let's keep it. No, it's like, honestly, what I think about childhood memories, you know, my dad bringing home a trumpet. You know, I remember him. He dyed his hair red, getting ready for Red and Malcolm X. Yeah. Him walking me around the streets of New York reciting Shakespeare when he was getting ready for Richard III.
So I've always been fascinated with that. My mom sat down and played a number, a classical number on the piano without reading the notes. I think about that, of that really. I think that's the relationship. That's what was being taught. It seems like it was always, to me, it's always been about the work. That's what they both teach us.
They both teach you that, but there's no denying that there's also that other thing. And I just want to know how you navigate it, both of you.
I think that they just, like, they were so protective of themselves first and us as well. You know, they always just highlight, like, keeping the noise outside. And I think that heat and desire that you're speaking of can be that noise, you know. And I think that we all just live very kind of meaningful private lives. Yeah. I don't have that heat and desire in my DMs.
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Chapter 7: What lessons did they learn from their parents?
Chapter 8: How do they navigate fame and public perception?
Pedro Pascal plays a formidable general, with whom Lucius has a score to settle, while Joseph Quinn and Fred Heshinger romp up a storm as a pair of twin-brother tyrants who are driving Rome to ruin. And Denzel Washington, unsurprisingly, gets the juiciest role as Macrinus, a sly and somewhat inscrutable slave owner who sends Lucius into the arena.
It's fun to watch Washington go over the top, but his scene-stealing is typical of Gladiator 2 as a whole. It's a lot of flash to very little purpose. Meskel, best known for his sensitive, melancholy work in the series Normal People and films like Aftersun, gives an intensely physical performance, but his Lucius never lays claim to your sympathies as commandingly as Maximus did.
And when the characters start talking laboriously about the downfall of Rome and the hope of a glorious rebirth, the movie rapidly loses steam. It's like watching an extended WWE SmackDown suddenly interrupted by a civics lesson. Still, the SmackDown itself is pretty satisfying.
In Gladiator 2's wildest action sequence, the Coliseum Arena becomes a giant saltwater tank, complete with dueling warships and bloodthirsty sharks. It's an utterly outlandish spectacle, but Ridley Scott, who's now 86, doesn't sweat the logistics. The first Gladiator asked, are you not entertained? And in these moments, at least, we are.
Justin Chang is a film critic for The New Yorker. He reviewed Wicked and Gladiator 2. Coming up, Selena Gomez, who stars in the new film Amelia Perez. I'm Tanya Mosley, and this is Fresh Air Weekend. This is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Tanya Mosley. And I recently had the chance to check out the movie Amelia Perez, the new Spanish-language musical that stars my guest today, Selena Gomez.
The film is centered on a lawyer named Rita, played by Zoe Saldana, who is kidnapped and tasked with helping a ruthless Mexican cartel leader secretly undergo gender-affirming surgery to begin a new life as Amelia Perez. Selena Gomez plays Jessie Del Monte, the wife of the cartel leader, who knows nothing about her husband's transition and is led to believe that Emilia Perez is a distant cousin.
The film is almost entirely in Spanish, and Gomez, who grew up speaking it but lost fluency, took lessons to prepare for the role. Here she is singing a stirring performance of Bienvenida, which means welcome.
Bienvenida a tu país amado, bonita. A tu lujosa cárcel, primita. Donde todo es caro, encantada. Y gracias a la familia, bienvenida. Sé amable, saluda, querida. A tu tía matrona, Emilia. A las nuevas custodias, primita De tu jaula dorada bienvenida
That's Selena Gomez singing in the new Netflix movie musical Amelia Perez. As an ensemble, Gomez, along with Zoe Saldana and Carla Sofia Gascon, who portrays both Amelia Perez and the cartel leader before she transitions, won the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize for Best Actress. Selena Gomez is an actor, singer, and the founder of the successful cosmetic line Rare Beauty.
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