Viola Davis says she will star in a movie adaptation of ‘Fences’ and it will be directed by Denzel Washington.
Viola Davis, who recently shocked the world in her performance on ABC’s hit TV series How To Get Away With Murder, has revealed that she will appear in the movie adaptation of the August Wilson play.
“They are making ‘Fences,’ August Wilson’s play, into a feature that Denzel Washington is directing and I’m going to be in,” Davis told The New York Times in a profile published just 2 days ago.
Viola Davis and Denzel Washington have a history of working together. The two actors worked on the 2010 Broadway production. Both Davis and Washington would later win Tony Awards for their performances.
Fences has a long history in Hollywood. The movie was supposed to have been filmed in the 1980s but, Paramount wanted to hire a white director for the movie. The screenwriter, August Wilso argued that the director of the film had to be black. Of course Paramount didn’t see eye to eye with the award winning playwright and offered Eddie Murphy the job to direct the movie. August Wilson argued that he wasn’t suggesting that a black director be hired simply because they are black, rather a black director who was qualified for the job.
From IndieWire:
But this wasn’t a clause in the original agreement between Wilson and Paramount, so the studio wasn’t legally bound to adhere to Wilson’s wishes (however they realized well enough that a film adaptation of “Fences” without Wilson’s blessing, wasn’t something that they wanted to do). While seeming to be taking Wilson’s wishes under strong consideration, the studio approached Barry Levinson to helm the film; obviously, Levinson isn’t black.
Needless to say, Wilson didn’t approve. Although Levinson backed away from the project anyway, after he saw the play himself, stating that he didn’t think it would translate well to the screen – at least, not the version of the script that Wilson had written. Wilson’s public objections to a white director helming the project were also of some influence.
So the project stalled.
Several years ago, producer Scott Rudin approached Denzel Washington about starring and directing in Fences. However, Washington, who is a true thespian, argued that he could not do the movie unless he did the play first. Rudin agreed, and Kenny Leon was hired to direct, Viola Davis came onboard to co-star, and now a movie is being made.
Fences is set in the 1950s, it is the sixth in Wilson’s ten-part “Pittsburgh Cycle”. Like all of the “Pittsburgh” plays, Fences explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, among other themes. The play won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play.
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