August Wilson's The Piano Lesson Headed for the Screen With Samuel L. Jackson
(© David Gordon/David Cooper Photography)
The Piano Lesson might be the next August Wilson film to hit the screen, the New York Times reports.
The 1990 Pulitzer Prize winner is next on producer Denzel Washington's list of Wilson screen adaptations. As we reported in 2015, he is hoping to bring all of the plays in Wilson's Century Cycle to celluloid. The Piano Lesson would follow Fences, released in 2016, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, which will debut on December 18.
According to the Times, Washington is hoping for Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) to direct, with a cast led by his son, John David Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson. The younger Washington will presumably take on the leading role of Boy Willie, which Jackson originated at Yale Rep in 1987.
Set in the 1930s, The Piano Lesson is the story of two siblings and their struggle to come to terms with their inheritance and the ghosts of their past. It was previously adapted for the screen in 1995, with a cast led by Charles S. Dutton.
