For those fearing that Denzel Washington’s Fences adaptation would fail to do justice to August Wilson’s searing 1983 play, this debut trailer offers some hope. With Washington and Viola Davis returning to the roles that won them great acclaim (and Tony Awards) during the play’s 2010 Broadway revival—and with Wilson adapting the play himself for the screen—this first glimpse of the new Fences proves that a cast and crew who are intimately familiar with the original text can go a very long way in preserving the integrity of a work.
Fences offers a devastating portrait of an black family in 1950s Pittsburgh. Patriarch Troy Maxson (Washington) is a former Negro League baseball player now working as a waste collector; his son, Cory (Jovan Adepo of The Leftovers), is a talented athlete on the cusp of professional success. The bruised love between the two is bridged by matriarch Rose (Davis), who moves to the center of the story as her family encounters a series of painful choices and tragedies.
This marks Washington’s first directorial endeavor in a decade, borne out of his longstanding passion for Wilson’s stage work. While Washington’s effort behind the scenes appears to be a faithful one—the trailer opens on a stirring reenactment of what’s arguably the play’s most powerful monologue—it’s his and Davis’ work in front of the camera that will likely demand the most attention.
Fences will be released by Paramount Pictures on Christmas Day and is expected to be a major awards contender across the board.
