Netflix announced in March 2021 that it would adapt another of Wilson’s works, Piano Lessons.
Eryka Badu will be starring in the Netflix film Piano Lesson! Samuel L. Jackson and a Golden Globe nomination John David Washington is slated to star in Piano Lessons, a new Netflix feature film.
You may recognize the title of this film if you have previously seen the play of the same name written by American writer August Wilson.
Netflix announced in March 2021 that it would adapt another of Wilson’s works, Piano Lessons.
Wilson’s play is the second to be turned into a film by Netflix, with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom already being adapted.
Piano Lesson Movie Netflix Release Date:
A release date for Piano Lessons hasn’t been confirmed by Netflix, but considering production begins in April 2023, it makes sense that the film will release someplace in the second half of 2024.
The Cast of the Netflix Movie Piano Lessons:
The film will star Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington. Jackson will play Doaker Charles, while Washington will play Doaker’s nephew, Boy Willie. Ray Fisher and Michael Potts, Jackson and Washington’s other co-stars from the play, also joined them in the cast.
Grammy Award-winning singer Erykah Badu joins the cast on May 30. Showcasing her “soulful voice and eclectic style” with a live musical.
Here’s the full cast list:
Ray Fisher as Lemon
Michael Potts as the Winner’s Child
Samuel L. Jackson as Doaker Charles
John David Washington as Boy Willie
Malcolm Washington will direct the film, which he co-wrote with Virgil Williams. Constanza Romero, Jennifer Roth and Katia Washington also joined as executive producers.
What is the Netflix film The Piano Lesson about?
The film will be adapted from Wilson’s 1987 play of the same name and will depict the narrative of the Charles family in 1936 Pittsburgh in the midst of the Great Depression that followed.
The play follows Doaker Charles, patriarch of the Charles family, and the family heirloom, a piano decorated with ornate carvings by slave predecessors.
The plot summary for Netflix’s The Piano Lesson is as follows:
The Charles family’s engraved upright piano, which they painstakingly acquired and treasured, had been left unused and gathering dust in the living room of Berniece Charles’ Pittsburgh home.
When Berniece’s energetic brother, Boy Willie, walks into her life with his desire to buy a Mississippi property where his family worked as slaves, he intends to sell their antique piano for the cash he needs to gamble on its future.
But Berniece refuses to sell, sticking to the piano as a memento from their family history. These predicaments are true “piano lessons,” reminding us that black people are often robbed of symbols of history and their opportunities in the present.
