With The Piano Lesson, Malcolm Washington confronts the weight of legacy

As the youngest son of Denzel and Pauletta Washington, Malcolm Washington knows a thing or two about legacy. He's just released his directorial debut, The Piano Lesson, which is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by August Wilson.

Set in 1930s Pennsylvania, the story follows the Charles family as they deliberate on whether to keep or sell their family heirloom piano. The instrument belonged to their enslaved great grandparents whose faces are carved into it.

In an interview with Q's Tom Power, Washington recalls his first time reading the play. "I was thinking deeply about my ancestors and my lineage and what they've done to put me in the position I'm in now, both literally and physically, but also just the type of person I am, the type of man I am, the type of decisions I make," he says. "I carry all of their stories in me."

Washington's entry point to the story was the character of Boy Willie, a 30-year-old sharecropper who wants to sell the family piano to buy the land where his ancestors toiled as slaves. He faces opposition from his sister, Berniece, who refuses to part with the instrument, despite the fact that she hasn't played it since their mother's death.

"This is a story about a son who's living in the shadow of his father's legacy, who's trying to make his father's life and sacrifice mean something, who's building on what his father has left for him," Washington says. "So that was a story I understood intimately."

The entire Washington family was involved in this "deeply personal" project, including Malcolm's brother John David Washington, who stars in the film, and their father Denzel Washington, who produced it. "These are the most important people in my life I've brought into it," he says. "They've trusted me with it. They've taken a risk and chance on me to deliver for it.… This was something that I took very seriously because I saw myself in it."

The Piano Lesson is streaming now on Netflix.

The full interview with Malcolm Washington is available on our YouTube channel and on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Malcolm Washington produced by Vanessa Greco.