Meet Troy Maxson. He’s a 53-year-old African American burnout living out his days in 1950s Pittsburgh. Once a Negro Leagues superstar, our former baseball hero now makes ends meet as a sanitation employee, one who confronts racial discrimination each and every day as he struggles to come to terms with those lost ambitions.
If that story premise sounds familiar, it should; it’s the narrative underpinning Fences, August Wilson’s Tony Award-winning stage play that featured Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in starring roles. Both garnered rave reviews while walking the boards, which has us all the more excited to see Washington’s movie adaptation light up the screen in a few weeks’ time. Marking the actor’s first foray behind the lens since 2007’s The Great Debaters, Washington will step into the grotty boots of Troy, with Davis taking point as Rose, his fiercely loyal better half.
Also starring Jovan Adepo, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson and Saniyya Sidney, today brings forth the second full-length trailer for Fences, shedding light on the core, familial struggle between Troy, Rose and their estranged son, Cory (Adepo). More than anything, this new reel of footage presents a strong case for Washington and Davis to collect – or at the very least be nominated for – Best Actor/Best Actress accolades when awards season rolls around, and we can hardly wait to see the pair command the silver screen having portrayed the troubled Maxsons on the boards.
Denzel Washington and Viola Davis will swing for the Fences – and Oscar territory – when Washington’s period drama hits theaters on Christmas Day. One glance at the stacked release calendar will tell you that the race drama faces stiff awards competition from NASA pic Hidden Figures, Gold and Martin Scorsese’s long-in-development passion project Silence. Can it emerge victorious?
