Video: Danielle Deadwyler Is Living Her Dream Bringing August Wilson to the Big Screen

I have to tell you, I am such a fan of yours

And I fell madly in love with this film. You are so sensational in this

Tell me, what has made this so special for you with working on the piano lesson

I've known August Wilson's works since I was a young child since like middle school

I've seen various productions. I've got to be a part of readings

I'm just one who was taught how to practice this art through his works

My mentors, my OGs are all Wilsonians in that way. And so when I am able to do that for myself in this manner

in such a global manner, right, like with regard to the release

I am humbled and excited because, oh, now I finally get to do it

And I've got all of this legacy of understanding, of artistic understanding

of intellectual understanding, of spiritual understanding. So it's just, I'm to use an Atlanta or southern term, I'm geeked to be able to share

this with everyone and to have. experienced it in this way. It was a deeply familial experience

Yeah, because you work with so many incredible directors, not only on screen, but I look at the

stage directors you work with, including my friend and your friend, Kenny Leon. So I'm wondering

I sat with Malcolm and John David the other day, and I have the best time with them. What makes

Malcolm such a wonderful director? I kind of wait to see where he goes next. He's going everywhere

It's because he has such a compassionate heart. He's an intellectual

He's a thinker. He's a music aficionado. You have to have someone who's deeply well-rounded

and who loves actors and people. He wants to dig into every crevice

He's like a mouse, you know. like they they know the stuff in the back in the shadows and then he's in the front DJing

and then he's lighting the candles and then he's I mean just the way that he is super

explorative with you that I mean he understands humanity I think I think that what makes him such a beautiful director And he constantly curious constantly curious Somebody who pushing coming in with new ideas all the time

and is pulling from myriad disciplines in order to get a full scope of understanding of something

And he loves actors in that he is reared amongst actors, right

That is his family. And so he knows the vulnerability. the sensitivities, the ways that, like

he knows a background understanding of what actors need to be there, to put forth their best selves

And so I think that that makes him a dynamic director. Yeah. And then you got to share the screen, of course

with his brother, John David, who I fell in love with on stage in this show

So what was it like working opposite John David as boy Willie

and this incredible cast you got to work with? I mean, they're all madmen, right

Accepting myself and Corey, we're the ones who came in, you know, on the backhand to do, you know, essentially just a film

And we overprepared, right? I think, and everybody had to come in with a new understanding because I know John David talks about coming in and, oh, okay, I had to rethink things because it had a different, this is an adaptation

It's not a direct play to screen experience. And I think that's the funny part

We didn't overly talk about things together. I think everybody had their unique experience and conversations and inner dialogue

and one-to-ones with Malcolm. But at the end of the day, we understand that black families aren't having

like especially at this time having a certain kind. conversation. That's what the film is encouraging. It's, oh, we need to contend with those things

that we have not, those things that have rested behind us. And so that makes me think we have

this very intuitive understanding amongst each other as a cast. And we all had, we all had

this understanding of rigor, of reverence, of discipline, and of joy, right, of resting in all of those

tenants in order to make this work. John David is just he's my brother

You know? Now we are it was then. We had a silent understanding

of each other. We cared for each other even in the midst of you know physically and emotionally you know crashing into each other And we crashing to each other with joy you know outside of the sound stage right

And, I mean, that's what you want to do. You want to find family

And I found, I found family in that way. You know, there's something about August Wilson's works

I mean, I've spoken to so many stars and actors who, once it's in their DNA, it lives there

It's a personal thing. I mean, it's the story of your lives, your ancestors, everything else

I understand that Malcolm asked you all to bring in personal pictures and photos from your family

to sort of scatter in the house that you were living in. That's an incredible thing to do

Who did you bring in with you? What did you bring in? I sent him an image of a young image of my grandmother and my, my, my

grandfather, my maternal grandmother and grandfather, they were my last living grandparents

And it's them at their fresh self, right? Like, probably, I think it was, they would probably, it looked like it was in the 1940s

It's one of the most beautiful images. And it's, that's just, that's a super personal connection

I think we put it in Bernice's room. and when you have that, right

you know that the Washington's family is sculpted onto the piano and you know your family is here

and you know somebody else's is here and so when you have that understanding

oh shoot, we're all bringing in our blood in order to make this happen

and that's when the film it boils with something much more visceral

Yeah. I just like, I've known the Washington, Washington family for a long time too. And I just love that it. You know, Denzel has, this has been a passion project of his to bring as many of August Wilson's works to the big screen to open up all around the world for people to experience this. But Poletta had so much to do with this, their mom and sister. What was it like having them around the set and just? And then there's Samuel Jackson who's like their uncle and everything else. It's like this big family. It's a big family. There's nothing else to say that you do people walking around

joking, digging into conversations about stuff, various things. It's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just an arts family, right

Giving you daily life so that you can ground yourself in it and go do what you have to do, right

Like that I don know how to explain it even more than that you know It the most loving experience you can have

It's the kind of experience you want as an artist. Finally, would you like to come to Broadway in a play or the West End

or to bring your art to a live audience? Richie, what do you think I'm doing

I'm plotting. I am a theater baby. Like, through and through. That is the first medium

Dance in theater. That is it. You are an actor because of what you experience live

There is a sympathetico dynamic or dynamism that's happening between a live audience and something that is dug into on the street in an apartment building or apartment room on a proscenium

Like, there are myriad ways to perform, but live is imperative. Theater is imperative

So you're just going to have to wait and see. That's your family

That's your family. That's your blood. Sometimes you be in trouble

They might be around to help you. Tell your mama to tell you about that piano

Ask her how them pictures got on there. I am

I shall blood