![Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in 'Fences' (Photo: Paramount)]()
Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in ‘Fences’ (Photo: Paramount)
No conversation about 2016’s best films, let alone the year’s Oscar contenders, is complete without praising the Denzel Washington-directed drama “Fences.”
Based on August Wilson’s Tony Award-winning play of the same name, which Washington helped revive on Broadway in 2010, “Fences” is the story of a working class African-American family living in Pittsburgh in the 1950s.
Patriarch Troy Maxson (Washington) is a former Negro League baseball player turned struggling sanitation worker who dreams (and boasts) of the success that barely passed him by as he sat in prison and, later, raised a family. Troy is a reliable provider and a proud man, but his personal demons and difficult upbringing lead to strained relationships with his family—wife Rose (Viola Davis), disabled brother Gabriel (Mykelti Williamson), adult son Lyons (Russell Hornsby) and teenage son Cory (Jovan Adepo).
“Fences” features captivating and deeply emotional performances from the entire cast, particularly Washington and Davis, who are both Golden Globe-nominated for their roles. And despite the often-heartbreaking exchanges throughout the film, co-stars Hornsby and Adepo took a moment during an interview with XFINITY to point out the lighter moments that pepper the drama’s heavy narrative.
“Each and every one of the characters is going through their own private struggle in their own way, but I think if you’re truly looking for it, there are moments of love between the characters,” Adepo told me before turning to Hornsby. “There’s one that we never even talked about before: In the beginning, where Troy is talking to all of ya’ll in the back, and Rose is like, ‘You lying!’ And Denzel looks at Vi and he kisses her and he’s like, ‘Well, all right then!’ And you can tell that was a real moment. That had nothing to do with the script.”
“Yeah, yeah!” Horsby boomed as both men laughed.
“I completely forgot about that,” Adepo continued. “It just hit me just now. I remember him doing that. Those are the moments that you can see there’s love there in this family, for sure. It’s there, man.”
Hornsby also points to subtle connections between characters as evidence of a familial respect that permeates the film, even as those interactions are overshadowed by Troy’s often cold treatment of those around him, particularly the athletically gifted Cory.
“The greetings, the kisses, the hugs, the salutations,” he explained. “I come in, I kiss Rose. I come in, I slap hands with Bono [Stephen Henderson]. There’s the shared moment between Gabriel and Lyons. ‘Gabe—How you doing?’ ‘Lyons—King of the jungle!’ Those are just these lovely exchanges that people are having between each other.”
For more on “Fences,” which opens in theaters everywhere Christmas Day, check out my full interview with Adepo and Hornsby below:
David Onda: Is Troy Maxson a good man or a bad man?
![Washington in 'Fences' (Photo: Paramount)]()
Washington in ‘Fences’ (Photo: Paramount)
Jovan Adepo: I don’t think he’s a bad man at all. I think it’s almost unfair to label him a “bad man,” because nobody’s perfect. I think he’s a multidimensional person, as all of us are. There’s not one side to any of us. If you use the metaphor of an onion, when you pull back the layers, there’s many sides to the man. If anything, he’s misunderstood. And that’s just speaking from an actor standpoint. I think Cory might not understand that. Cory might consider him … maybe a bad man, I don’t know.
Russell Hornsby: I don’t think he’s a bad man at all. I have to agree with Jovan. He is just misunderstood. I think what August does greatly, is August gives us a window into his past. If we choose to peer through that window, we’ll see what lead to why he lives this way, why he thinks this way and why things are very black and white for him. When he tells the story about his father and what his father did, those are traumatic moments. What he’s saying is, “The best I could do is what I’m doing. I’m doing more than what my dad did for me. I’m staying home, I’m sticking around and I’m providing for my family. Yes, I can get a little prickly at times, but I’m doing the best I can.” I think that’s what August is trying to convey through the character of Troy. He’s a tragic hero. It’s comparable to Arthur Miller’s Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman.” Is Willy Loman a bad man who lies, who committed adultery? No, we say he’s a multidimensional character—one who is facing life on life’s terms and doing the best he can. And that’s what Troy’s doing. These are just men who were trying to become whole with fractured pieces.
Onda: Russell, having played the role of Lyons in both the movie and Broadway revival, how did the film version allow you to stretch, and were there any aspects that were more difficult?
Hornsby: It did allow me to stretch. Just the reexamination of it forced me to stretch and get more specific in every moment. Specificity is key. The whole endeavor is not difficult, but it’s challenging, because August forces you to bare your soul, and in the process of doing that, you have to tell the truth. And the truth is painful and the truth hurts. Charles S. Dutton, who began his career with “Ma Rainey,” always said, “You have to leave a little blood on the stage.” Metaphorically leave a little blood, leave a piece of yourself on that stage or on that celluloid so that we can say that the character has lived. That’s the challenge of working on August, and I think that’s why he is one of the greatest playwright’s ever.
![Russell Hornsby and Davis in 'Fences' (Photo: Paramount)]()
Russell Hornsby and Davis in ‘Fences’ (Photo: Paramount)
Onda: Troy’s relationship with Lyons is a little less strained than the one he has with Cory. Is Troy not as threatened by Lyons because Lyons never surpassed Troy’s success the way Cory seems poised to do?
Hornsby: I think there could possibly be something to say to that. I think he’s dealing with a level of guilt because he wasn’t around. But also, I think you have to understand that he has to deal with Lyons man to man. Not necessarily with Cory. There’s a delicate balance that happens. Lyons says, “I’m 34 years old. I’m a grown man. You can’t just treat me any sort of way. You can say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to me, but you can’t come in here and put no judgement on me. I’m not gonna accept or tolerate that.” He can do that to Cory because Cory’s still a kid, he’s still a child, he’s living under his roof. They have a man-to-man relationship. Although that’s still his father and he still wants his father’s love, but he’s still a man.
Onda: It’s no secret that Denzel Washington is one of the most intense men on film. He’s intimidating as a viewer, but Jovan, you are in the thick of it with him. At any moment, I felt like he could just haul off and slug you. Tell me about being in those moments with him.
Adepo: That’s just a testament to his freedom as an actor. He’s always doing something ever so different in each of the takes and that’s just him being unafraid of exploration as the character. I never felt like I was in danger working with Denzel, but I could definitely say that at any point he could have slugged me one. [laughs] Comparing the stage to film, the scene between Cory and his mother at the end—that “contact” that’s in the film wasn’t in the play. They added that in rehearsals. He was like, “There’s gotta be a physical element to the scene. Viola, figure it out.” And she was like, “Ok—WHAM.” And he was like, “Let’s go with that!” He set the stage and set the environment for everyone to be free and just be open to where a scene may take us. As long as we trust each other and trust in his overall plan, we’re gonna come out on top, and I was on board. I trusted him completely.
![Washington and Davis in 'Fences' (Photo: Paramount)]()
Washington and Davis in ‘Fences’ (Photo: Paramount)
Onda: Speaking of Viola, she is incredible in the film. What is it she brings to a scene that makes you better as actors in that moment?
Adepo: I think her stillness. She’s very confident in herself as an actor. I remember, Russell, you said something earlier about how she brings a lot of herself and her past and how she was raised and her upbringing with her into the character. So, a lot of the time, that hurt that you feel—that’s deep-rooted. She’s always honest as well. You never get a moment of feeling like she’s calling something in, no matter how short the scene is or how complex it is or how simple it might be. She’s always bringing it completely and full-heartedly and completely truthful.
Hornsby: Viola’s very, very specific in every moment. Every moment is lived in, it’s full, it’s fleshed out. It is rare that you see that type of transparency as an actor in people’s work. A lot of actors either can’t or choose not to go to that level of truth and honesty. They’re afraid of it for whatever reason. And she is not. Harkening back to leaving a little blood on the stage, she leaves a vial—because you have to. The work demands it. The people who he’s writing about need it in order for their stories to be told fully. These aren’t archetypal characters. These are real people—they said [August] sat in diners and listened to these people. These people said these words. They’re real. If you’re not willing to go as deep into the root, into the soil as you can, then you’re doing August and these people a disservice.
Onda: Jovan, I read an interview in which you called August’s words “poetic,” which is not a word you often hear describing dialogue in a script.
Adepo: And that was something that was pointed out to me by Mr. Stephen Henderson. It was early in the rehearsal process, me confiding in him whatever I was trying to figure in different scenes and wanting to learn more about August, because he had had so much correspondence with August. Through our conversations, he pointed out, “There’s just a rhythm that you can hear. You ain’t gotta force it, you stay true to the material and it’s there. It’s a beat. You can snap to it.” And you can see that, definitely, in those moments in the back yard when Troy really gets into it. He’s on stage doing his thing and everybody’s sitting around and just listening to him and engaging him. It’s a dance. As Stephen would put it, “It’s like jazz.” That’s where I found that poetic vibe to it. It’s the rhythm of his words. It’s music.
![Jovan Adepo and Washington in 'Fences' (Photo: Paramount)]()
Jovan Adepo and Washington in ‘Fences’ (Photo: Paramount)
Onda: Can you tell me about the evolution of Cory from boy to man over the course of the film. How did you adjust to show that transformation?
Adepo: That just came through trying to create a journey for Cory outside of what’s on the page. Denzel and Viola felt very strong about completely understanding your character, writing the biography and stuff like that. I knew, by the time Cory was walking down that alleyway after the big standoff, that was the point of no return. He figured out what he wanted to do with his life even though he figured it out on the day. And he was committed to it. And so, walking away, I just really had to figure out what happened in his life from that point to the point where he comes back. And what was fun about that was it was up to my interpretation what Cory went through when he decided to enter into the military—what wars he might have participated in, if he ever got to see any action. Me and Vi did a lot of talking about how often Cory might have come home or not have come home. How often did he speak to Rose while he was away? It was cool to engage in that with her. We would just be sitting around and be on the phone and she’d be like, “How often did Cory write home?” She wanted to know. It had nothing to do with trying to teach me something. She was like, “I wanna know for my own work, because when you come back, I wanna know when was the last time I saw you.” Her doing that informed me to do the same thing and to think about if Cory ever found love and a lot of things. With the preparation, and really digging into your character, when it’s time for him to come back and be showing some sort of change in behavior or journey, that all comes in the blanks that you fill in outside of the script.
Onda: You mentioned the physical contact with Viola earlier, and I appreciated the way you played it—how the man reverts back to the little boy when he’s scolded by his mother so harshly.
Adepo: Mama’s slaps always hurt a little bit. I don’t care if you bench-press 400 pounds, once she puts that hand on you … [whimpers].
![Washington and Stephen Henderson in 'Fences' (Photo: Paramount)]()
Washington and Stephen Henderson in ‘Fences’ (Photo: Paramount)
Onda: There’s so much to unpack in “Fences” in terms of themes and lessons, both hidden and blatantly spelled out in the narrative. Which of those resonated most with you personally?
Hornsby: I think the whole idea and notion of letting go, of trying to find a way of letting go of the pain, trying to find a way of letting go of the resentment. It doesn’t serve you in the long run. You’ve lived your life, things have happened, your past is what it was, your childhood is what it was and now you have to be able and be willing to turn the page and let go and put a new chapter in. Because that’s gonna affect your future, obviously. You can talk about that in therapy or whatever you wanna call it, but at the end of the day, you’ve gotta let go. That’s the big lesson for Lyons and Cory as brothers having fatherhood issues—it is to let go of the past and not let it hold you hostage.
Adepo: I agree. Just listening to Russell say “let it go” … there was a saying I actually heard my dad say that “family is the link to your past, but the bridge to your future.” That would probably be something that resonates with me the most out of this film.
“Fences” opens in theaters everywhere Christmas Day. Click here for more information or to order tickets through Fandango.
The post ‘Fences’ Stars Reflect on Film’s Lighter Moments, Praise Washington and Davis’ Fearlessness appeared first on Movies.
