Denzel Washington And Viola Davis Are Coming Together For The Broadway Production Of The Play "Fences"

Denzel Washington And Viola Davis Are Coming Together
 For The Broadway Production Of The Play "Fences"

BHR Hollywood Reports...............Denzel Washington and Viola Davis are once again joining forces to create a film adaptation of the Broadway production Fences.

Viola Davis, who won a Tony award for her performance in the 2010 Broadway production of "Fences," has revealed that she will appear in a screen adaptation of the August Wilson play.

Denzel Washington 

In a recent interview with Reporters, Davis revealed she was working with Washington to re-create August Wilson's award-winning play for the big screen. She confirmed that she will star in the film and Washington will direct.

By the way, she co-starred with Denzel Washington in the 2010 Broadway production, which was directed by Kenny Leon (both Davis and Washington won Tony Awards for their performances).

The age-old story on a long-stalled film adaptation of August Wilson's award-winning play is that, the playwright insisted to the studio (Paramount Pictures at the time - this was in the late 1980s when talk of a film adaptation all began) that the director of the film be black.

Denzel Washington And
Viola Davis

Of course Paramount didn't feel that was necessary, stating that they wanted "the best director for the job."

 Even Eddie Murphy, who was then attached to star in, and co-produce the film adaptation, told Wilson that he wasn't going to hire a director just because he/she was black.

Wilson reiterated 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.

Denzel Washington And Viola Davis

The pair previously starred in the 2010 Broadway show directed by Kenny Leon, which won a Drama Desk Award and Tony Award for its revival. Washington and Davis also won Tony Awards for Best Actor and Actress.

Set in the 1950s, Fences centers on a sanitation worker who recalls his dream of becoming a major league baseball player, although he is too old to join the majors when the league begins to admit black players.

 Throughout the play, he and his wife grapple with the harsh realities of the black experience as they raise their teenage son.

The play, which was one of ten in Wilson's "Pittsburgh Cycle," originally debuted in 1987 with James Earl Jones and Mary Alice.