Denzel Washington Has a Plan for 8 More Films to Follow His 92% 2016 Rotten Tomatoes Success

Denzel Washington already has plans to produce eight new films over the next few years, and they were all written by the same person behind his 2016 hit Fences. Denzel Washington is widely considered one of the best actors of all time, and for good reason. Washington has played nine Oscar-nominated roles over the years and won the Oscar twice: for Best Actor in 2001 Training day and Best Supporting Actor in 1989 Glory. Many people want to know what Washington will do next; Fortunately, he already has plans to produce eight new films.

While he won’t necessarily star in all eight films he plans to produce, Denzel Washington could easily channel one of his best films into them. 2016 Washington film Fences earned him one of his Oscar nominations and also secured an impressive Rotten tomatoes score of 92%. That’s a great sign for Washington’s future projects, because eight of his upcoming films will be adaptations of plays written by the same playwright responsible for Fences: August Wilson.

Denzel Washington made a deal with the August Wilson Estate to adapt his 10 pieces

Wilson’s plays tell the story of black Americans throughout the 20th century

In 2015, Denzel Washington announced that he would produce film adaptations of all 10 series of August Wilson plays, called Pittsburgh Cycle (through The Hollywood Reporter). August Wilson won two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama for Fences and The piano lesson in 1987 and 1990, respectively. Wilson Pittsburgh Cycle – which is sometimes called Cycle of the Century – was written to showcase and celebrate the experience of black Americans throughout the 20th century. As such, each piece in the cycle is set in and intended to represent a different decade up until the 1990s.

August Wilson died in 2005, so the playwright’s estate gave Denzel Washington and HBO the rights to adapt his plays for the screen. In 2015, Washington said he would executive produce the remaining nine adaptations..

We will do one a year for the next nine years. I’m very excited about this. Put the property in my hands and trust me. That’s good enough for me. It doesn’t get any better than that.

During the event announcing his partnership with the August Wilson Estate, Washington expressed his love for the playwright’s works and his lasting legacy. As Washington said: “[Wilson’s] the stories are specifically African-American stories, but the themes are universal…his work will live forever to be interpreted by actors and directors while we are here.” Denzel Washington clearly has a deep respect for Wilson’s playswhich should help him complete the remaining eight plays that Wilson wrote.

Denzel Washington made two adaptations of August Wilson and another will be released in November 2024

Washington has done Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; The Piano Lesson will be his third adaptation of August Wilson

Denzel Washington began adapting August Wilson’s plays into films, directing and producing the 2016 ones. Fenceswhere he also played Troy Maxson alongside Viola Davis’ Rose Maxson. Since then, Washington produced another Wilson play: Ma Rainey Black Bottomwhich premiered in 2020 and starred Viola Davis as Ma Rainey and Chadwick Boseman as Levee. In addition to these first two adaptations, Washington has completed a third film that will be released first in theaters and then on Netflix in November 2024: The piano lessonstarring Samuel L. Jackson as Doaker and John David Washington as Boy Willie.

Denzel Washington will adapt seven more plays by August Wilson later The piano lessonstarting with Joe Turner came and wentwhich makes sense given the actor’s history with theater and Wilson specifically. Denzel Washington appeared in five Broadway productions during his lifetime and has a long history with plays.. He even starred in a Broadway revival of Fences just six years before the release of its film adaptation, which is probably why it was chosen to adapt the playwright’s works. If anyone is up to the task of adapting August Wilson’s influential works, it is Denzel Washington.

Sources: Rotten tomatoes, The Hollywood Reporter