'Fences' Screening Turns Into Love Fest for Denzel Washington Drama

Paramount

If the reaction of the Screen Actors Guild members who filled nearly 700 seats for the first Los Angeles screening of Denzel Washington’s “Fences” on Saturday night is any indication, Washington, his cast and Paramount Pictures should soon be awash in rave reviews and shiny statuettes.

Naturally it won’t be that easy, but the Saturday screening at the Regent Village Westwood theater was a triumphant bow for director-actor Washington’s adaptation of August Wilson’s family drama, which ran on the Broadway stage in 1987 with James Earl Jones and in a revival with Washington in 2010.

The capacity audience included studio guests, press and Academy members, but the bulk of the crowd consisted of SAG members who waited in a long line that stretched down the street and around the corner.

Also Read: Denzel Washington Clashes With Viola Davis in First 'Fences' Trailer (Video)

At times that audience seemed almost disconcerting in its eagerness to love the film, laughing a little too hard at even the slightest joke in the early going and interrupting almost every big speech with applause as the action grew more serious.

But the enthusiasm was undeniably genuine, and it turned to a fevered standing ovation when Washington and six of his castmates took the stage for a post-screening Q&A. Particularly strong applause greeted Viola Davis, actors Mykelti Williamson, Jovan Adepo and Stephen Henderson and, of course, Washington, who directed the film and plays a former Negro League baseball player struggling to make a living in 1950s Pittsburgh.

And while reviews are embargoed until closer to the film’s Christmas Day release, it’s no spoiler to say that Washington and Davis are assured to be in the thick of the Oscar race, as are Williamson, Adepo, Henderson and the film itself.

Also Read: Viola Davis Opts Out of Brutal Best Actress Race to Campaign in Supporting Category for 'Fences'

In fact, the biggest questions that now loom over the film are about number and placement. Will Oscar voters nominate Davis for Best Supporting Actress, the category in which she’s campaigning, or will they think she belongs in Best Actress and nominate her there instead? Will the “Fences” supporting actors split the vote, or can they take two or three of the five slots? And will Washington land nominations for Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture?

For now, I’m guessing that they opt to put her in supporting, where she’ll win her first Oscar; that Williamson and maybe Adepo land supporting-actor nods; and that Washington probably has two of those three nominations in the bag, with director the only real question mark.

“Denzel makes it easy,” said two-time Oscar nominee (and Emmy winner) Davis in the Q&A. “He said two things to us before we started: The first was ‘remember the love,’ and the second, which is frightening to actors, was ‘trust me.'”

Also Read: Oscar Race: Martin Scorsese, Denzel Washington, Ben Affleck Aim to Bring Down 'La La Land'

Davis, who won the Tony Award for best actress in the same role even though she’s campaigning for the Oscar in the supporting category, added that Washington also broke her of the conviction that film acting had to be subtler and quieter than stage acting.

“Film acting is supposed to be small,” she said. “But not all emotions are small. When I found out my boyfriend of seven years was cheating on me, that was not a small reaction.”

As the audience roared with laughter, she continued. “August Wilson does not write small.”

“There’s no such thing as film acting,” Washington insisted. “I’m sorry if your acting teachers have taught you differently, but the truth is the truth. And the camera will catch you lying.”

Also Read: Oscars Producers Michael De Luca, Jennifer Todd Say Awards Show Will Focus on the Funny

The director shared stories with Davis, Adepo, Henderson, Williamson, Russell Hornsby and young actress Saniyya Sidney, and then insisted on calling cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen and original “Fences” stage director Kenny Leon to the stage.

Leon, who worked on every one of the 10 plays August Wilson wrote during his lifetime, said he was particularly struck by the last shot in the film, which pans upward to reveal light coming through a break in the clouds.

The Evolution of Denzel Washington, From 'Malcolm X' to 'The Equalizer 2' (Photos)

Three Oscars, three Golden Globes, a Tony and a lifetime of memorable performances. Denzel Washington has proven that he is one of the most iconic actors in Hollywood today. With his latest film "The Magnificent Seven" out now and his upcoming film "Fences" expected to factor into the Oscar race, let's look back at his long career.
Here's a picture of him as a kid that was used in a Boys & Girls Club of America ad, just to show you he was born with that steely-eyed gaze.
BGCA
After getting started in Maryland and Off-Broadway theatre, Washington got his first major role on the '80s hit medical TV show "St. Elsewhere" as Dr. Philip Chandler.
NBC
In 1987, Washington earned his first Academy Award nomination playing South African activist Steve Biko in "Cry Freedom."
Universal
Two years later, Washington won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars for his work in "Glory." Washington plays Silas Trip, a bitter runaway slave who joins the Union in the Civil War, but who doesn't believe victory will bring him freedom.
TriStar
In 1990, Washington worked with Spike Lee to make the film "Mo' Better Blues." Washington plays Bleek Gilliam, a jazz trumpeter whose life spirals out of control as he makes one bad decision after another.
40 Acres and a Mule
Two years later, Washington reunited with Lee to make what is considered one of the defining works of both men's careers: "Malcolm X." Washington got his third Oscar nomination for his legendary performance as the legendary activist.
40 Acres and a Mule
In 1993, Washington starred alongside Tom Hanks in "Philadelphia" as Joe Miller, a personal injury lawyer hired by a gay man with AIDS to represent him in a wrongful termination lawsuit connected to his disease.
TriStar
In 1995, Washington began taking more high-octane roles, namely the lead in "Crimson Tide" alongside Gene Hackman. The two men play commanding officers on a submarine who engage in a bitter struggle for power while a rebellion in Russia threatens to re-start the Cold War.
One of Washington's more polarizing films was the 1999 biopic "The Hurricane." He plays Rubin Carter, a boxer who was convicted of triple murder and spent 20 years in prison before he was exonerated. The film earned Washington a Golden Globe, but also received criticism for taking liberties with the facts of the case.
Universal
In 2000, Washington introduced himself to a new generation of moviegoers in the Disney film "Remember The Titans" as the coach of a recently desegregated high school football team.
Disney
The following year, Washington became the first African-American actor since Sidney Poitier to win a Lead Actor Oscar when he played against type as the corrupt cop Alonzo Harris in "Training Day."
2002 saw Washington make his directorial debut with "Antwone Fisher," a story about a Navy sailor with a troubled past that he sorts through with the help of a kindly psychologist.
In the mid 2000s, Washington built on his "Crimson Tide" reputation and starred in a series of successful thrillers. Among these was a remake of the 1962 classic "The Manchurian Candidate."
In 2007, Washington played against type again as infamous Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas in "American Gangster."
In 2012, Washington earned his fourth Best Actor Oscar nomination and sixth nomination overall for his work in "Flight." In the Robert Zemeckis film, he played an airline pilot who saves nearly everyone on board when he makes an emergency crash landing. Still, six people die in the crash, and the pilot's new popularity is short-lived when it is discovered that he was flying while intoxicated.
Paramount
Fresh off receiving the Cecil B. Demille Award at the Golden Globes, Washington reunited with "Training Day" director Antoine Fuqua to star in a new rendition of one of the greatest Westerns of all time, "The Magnificent Seven." Washington played Sam Chisholm, a bounty hunter who rounds up a new Seven to protect a town from a vicious robber baron.
MGM
He earned two more Oscar nominations starring in (and producing) a screen adaptation of August Wilson's play "Fences," a tale of a former Negro League pitcher who struggles to deal with his new life as a garbage man. Washington played the lead role in a Broadway revival in 2010, for which he won a Tony Award.
Paramount
To the surprise of many awards prognosticators, Washington earned Oscar nom No. 9 for his performance as a crusading attorney in writer-director Dan Gilroy's 2017 legal drama "Roman J. Israel, Esq."
Sony
In July 2018, Washington returned to his thriller side with "Equalizer 2," the sequel to a brutal action thriller he made in 2014 about a widowed man who embraces his past as a ruthless vigilante to help the helpless. This is Washington's third film with Antoine Fuqua, who directed him in "Training Day."

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Denzel Washington has enjoyed plenty of success in Hollywood

Three Oscars, three Golden Globes, a Tony and a lifetime of memorable performances. Denzel Washington has proven that he is one of the most iconic actors in Hollywood today. With his latest film "The Magnificent Seven" out now and his upcoming film "Fences" expected to factor into the Oscar race, let's look back at his long career.

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