Denzel Washington And Viola Davis On Adapting ‘Fences’ And Honoring August Wilson

finally watched “fences” last night and loved the film. viola davis and denzel washington are both absolutely stunning but what really got me were the words. august wilson has famously said: “blues is the bedrock of everything i do” and so i like how jake coyle reviewed the film:

The blues music of “Fences” sings with a ferocious beauty in Denzel Washington’s long-in-coming adaptation of August Wilson’s masterpiece of African-American survival and sorrow. Transfers from stage to screen often serve up only a pale reflection of the electric, live-wire theater experience. But Washington, in his good sense, has neither strained to make August’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play particularly cinematic nor to “open it up” much from the confines of the staged settings. What we have, instead, is a meat-and-potatoes drama, delivered with full-bodied, powerhouse performances and an attuned ear to the bebop rhythms of Wilson’s dense, musical dialogue.

denzel washington has signed a deal with HBO to translate the remaining 9 plays into film. what a treat that will be. listen here.

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