Up next in 10
Malcolm Washington REVEALS Family Secrets in Film Debut | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Nov 21, 2024
Malcolm Washington reveals family secrets and discusses his directorial debut of "The Piano Lesson" on Netflix. The son of Denzel Washington opens up about his journey into filmmaking, working with his brother John David and Samuel L. Jackson, and the influence of his mother. Malcolm shares insights on legacy, August Wilson's impact, and collaborating with his family. He discusses the challenges of meeting high expectations and the personal nature of his work. The interview touches on growing up in a legendary Hollywood family, the importance of black mothers in culture, and Malcolm's approach to honoring his heritage through film. Subscribe for more exclusive interviews on Sway's Universe. #scottrudin #jerrikahinton #telluridefilmfestival #oscars2025 #familylegacymissions CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Malcolm Washington on His New Film ‘The Piano Lesson' 00:50 - Malcolm Washington on His Mother’s Influence 03:20 - Malcolm Washington on Confronting His Legacy 06:38 - Malcolm Washington on Directing ‘The Piano Lesson' 10:48 - Family Collaboration in Filmmaking 15:24 - Did Your Dad Name You After Malcolm X? 18:55 - Your Dad's Influence on Training Day Set 20:00 - What It Means to Be a Filmmaker 21:30 - The Influence of a Black Father in Film 25:40 - A Movie with Denzel and John David Washington 27:50 - Malcolm Washington’s Career Resume 30:50 - Malcolm’s Film Accolades and Awards 32:55 - Michael Jackson Can’t Play You: A Reflection 33:20 - Last Words and Final Thoughts
View Video Transcript
0:00
right there listen I'm telling you I'm not sure what are you doing this weekend but I want to go ahead and put this on your calendar okay coming up Friday
0:08
there's an incredible film called the piano lesson it's an adaptation of a
0:13
August Wilson play it's streaming on Netflix this Friday interesting enough
0:20
it has a lot of different Heavy Hitters that are involved but the most important
0:25
one is with us today the director and writer right a co-writer me me and my
0:31
friend Virgil put this together put it together right uh thespian extraordinaire Heather be his um his
0:37
blood Legacy is incredible he comes from thespian royalty uh but we going to talk about him today I want to welcome him to
0:43
the show for the very first time we've had his brother up here recently now we got to have him up here the one and only
0:49
Malcolm Washington is in the M up what's up baby come on man it's such an honor
0:55
to be here y'all are are legends and our culture and and been listening to y'all for a minute so it's exciting to share
1:01
the space with you thank you me goosebumps right there PB you think haing our Legends of course of course of
1:08
course y'all y'all are seminal voices seminal voices seal voices I like that man you come from a legendary family
1:15
right U the Washington family Denzel I told you I met your father years ago and working on radio we met your brother
1:22
have yet to met your meet your sisters or your mom oh your mom my mom yet no
1:27
and we love her because your brother John as sway mentioned he said he spoke so highly of your mom and sway what I
1:34
always love about sway sway is an advocate for women and he speaks highly of women and the matriarchs of the
1:39
family and your brother spoke so highly of your mom as well and it's like she's the one that's holding it down so no
1:45
doubt no doubt and and she's a very special lady and if you share the space with her you you'll see that she rubs
1:51
off on everybody okay can you hook that up y my mom I'm telling you if you if
1:58
you told me this 15 minutes ago my mom would have been here in a heartbeat oh wow we love her we love we love Mrs
2:04
Washington yes she actually was a source of inspiration for you with this project
2:09
right abolutely you dedicated this film to her I did yeah I well at the at the end of the film when you see it it's
2:15
there's a card that comes up that says for Mama yeah because you know we talk not enough about the role of of the
2:22
black mother in our in our culture the role of black women the uh the necessary labor that they and backbone that they
2:27
are in our culture um and I wanted to acknowledge that you know I wanted to acknowledge that Dynamic my relationship
2:34
with her she's somebody who who made so many opportunities available to me she she you know watered the soil that I
2:41
Sprout from she provided so much inspiration to me personally but that Dynamic so I honor her with the film but
2:48
I also honor I I challenge everybody to to think of their relationship with their mothers and grandmothers and so on
2:54
and so on because we're here because of a long line of women that came before us and and made space for us and watered us
3:01
um so I wanted to honor that relationship get this man I'm all man that's my my neew right now just stld
3:07
you now you in s family you're in my family now man um and this this the piano lesson um has a lot to do with
3:14
Legacy right and and and and what do you do with it how do you put it to use um I
3:20
want you to talk about how did how did you apply that to this film and then how do you apply that to your own life yeah
3:27
so that's an idea that's it's been uh it's been looming over me for my whole
3:32
life as you can imagine you know Legacy is a really really big concept when you're a kid and you're kind of starting
3:37
to put the pieces of that together um and in our film a central theme of it is
3:43
confrontation right it's confronting parts of your history parts of your identity parts of yourself that you've
3:49
either been running from or you're not ready to reconcile with there's a necessary confrontation so that you can
3:55
process those things and then move on to a future you know with an informed
4:00
decision or in information of what happened in the past and for me Legacy
4:05
has been a big part of my identity of me trying to figure out where do I fit into this thing um and in this film The
4:11
Making of it mirrored the the film itself and in a confrontation of that thing that I've been fearing for so long
4:17
wow you know so the you say fearing for so long yeah it's a big it's a big thing
4:22
you know it's a big thing there's a big shadow um so I I wanted to confront that with the people that that give me me the
4:30
most strength you know that's my family um and honor not only my parents but my grandparents and great-grandparents and
4:36
there's so many in our culture as you know there's so many uh strong and
4:41
powerful stories that of people that persevered and laughed and loved um and
4:46
had dreams and attained some of them that didn't get documented that didn't get that only got passed down orally so
4:52
it's on our generation to put that into text to put that in a document that will live forever that will be seen by
4:58
millions and millions of people around the world is say hey we're a people we're proud we stand on this thing and
5:03
we celebrate it yeah man I think we going to do a lot of Applause Malcolm's my guy right here man
5:09
we're talking about the piano lesson it's going to be on Netflix on on Friday yeah which is such a big day like how do
5:15
your how does your family figure this out because Gladiator comes out Friday as well your film comes out like y'all
5:22
just have double parties with it what happen you know it's just it's so
5:27
surreal I can't tell you how surreal a feeling it is to to be living in this moment right now because there's certain
5:33
times in life where things just line up for you in a way and it's like okay amen you you have to acknowledge that and and
5:39
give praise to it um and and take advantage of it so having Gladiator come
5:44
out and we celebrate my dad you know for his hundredth I don't know how many movies yeah just say a thousand it's
5:50
good you still won't be wrong great ones too yeah yeah and gladiator's another you know I don't know if y'all have seen
5:55
it yet no I got the opportunity to see it it's so fun it's so I love the your first Gladiator a lot um so see Russell
6:02
Crow Russell Crow yeah walking Phoenix incredible um so seeing this one is like
6:07
a great addition to the to the cannon you you think I'm sure you guys got a like a film room at the house you think
6:12
you guys can invite us over we can watch gladi come on come on right come on I don't know about Gladiator I can't
6:18
actually I can't promise Gladiator we watch get me in trouble cuz I don't I don't work for you know Paramount shout
6:24
out to Paramount what kind of juice you got I got no juice over there okay wait ter Terry from LA here man go go s go
6:31
you got a question T yeah um can I come oh this guy man all right okay you know
6:37
you need security let's talk about August Wilson because I know about what fenis came out
6:43
when your father was in fences about 10 years ago and and now you got your you get to direct your brother John David
6:48
and and also Samuel Jackson yes you know U with another August Wilson adaptation
6:54
right um let's talk about that let's unpack that what is it when were you first introduced to August Wilson and
6:59
can you share with the world what makes August Wilson so special yeah August is one of our our highest uh he's one of
7:07
our Premier playwrights of course and one of the most important voices in in black and American literature um so I
7:13
August and you know we come from a culture that that acknowledges its Heroes you know we we hold them up we we
7:21
chant their names we shout them out um so August is a name that's been around
7:26
my life for a long time but I never really engaged in his work deeply um until I saw my mom my mom actually did a
7:32
play of his two trains running I saw for the first time but August is one of those Canon figures that connect so many
7:41
black artists and so many black legacies are tied to his work across decades you know James earol Jones um Courtney B
7:48
Vans Alfrey Woodard um Viola Davis and my dad and so there's so many great
7:53
people that are attached to his work that when you work on his films or when you work in one of his projects you you two attach to that Legacy
8:00
um and you and it's incumbent upon you to contribute something to that yeah so it was an honor to work within that
8:05
space um and then try to bring something new to it trying to bring our generation to it we're we're one of the younger
8:12
Productions uh younger adaptations of this and and with that we stretch it right we we add contemporary black music
8:18
in this got eradu in there right eru in there yeah come on man that's I get it though you know um keep going keep going
8:24
yeah but but just that it's it's to not only um honor our Legends but but to bring it to the new generation because
8:32
I'm I'm somebody that great that was raised in a generation where I kind of thought August was for my parents'
8:37
generation I thought it was for them but I found myself in the work and and wanted to connect people like me and in
8:44
my demographic from my parts of the world um connect them to this and say hey hey this is your story too you have
8:49
ownership over this you're in here as well so that was part of our objective with this adaptation do something
8:55
exciting that's great cuz I was going to ask you like obviously you went to school you have the experience I'm sure
9:02
you have the prayers all lined up you know for this but how do you then meet this moment cuz this is huge you're
9:09
talking about directing your brother you you you're talking about established um artists I don't want to
9:15
just limit them to actors but artists how do you meet that moment because once you get on set it's like yo Malcolm it's
9:22
really happening it's so scary it's so scary you been real cool this but it
9:30
I I was scared for you just listen you know I help is so on set you before set you're so ner before the first day of
9:36
shooting you're so nervous so nervous um and you get there and the first take
9:41
Samuel Jackson starts ad living and he starts ad liing starts cursing he brings
9:47
a gun out it was so it was so funny it was so funny that it just broke all the tension cuz you like you know Sam raised
9:54
us his films his charact like the characters he plays raised us Sam is so funny he's so funny um and you're doing
10:00
this thing that feels so important and then he just cracks a joke and you're like okay we're off to the RAC oh okay the ice ice was broken you just s good
10:09
for you was your dad on set at all he was on set a little bit um because you
10:14
know this is really important to him he wants this this is an important part of his legacy as well um but I think he saw
10:21
that like the kids had it and he was like all right let y have it he let us have it August Wilson's wife um gave
10:27
your dad permission right to really kind of shephered you know his works yeah right yeah she controls um all of his
10:34
his estate so when August passed away he gave it to his wife to to take care of
10:39
it and she passed it on to my dad and said hey you Shepherd these things and and help see these see these through in
10:46
the right way one of the things I admire about what you and your family what you are doing first and foremost what your
10:53
family you have your your father's you know your brothers starring in it right
10:58
uh you one of your sisters it's Kaa Kaa is working on production side right your
11:04
your father's company is producing as well right that's right um is Olivia in
11:09
it too yeah I I put Olivia and my mom they both make appearances in the
11:14
film do and so even Beyond this film what what I find interesting is you you
11:20
had to you had to do a presentation to your dad and his partner right to everybody yeah to Sam to my brother to
11:27
Netflix um Everybody yeah was that standard or they wanted to make sure you had the chops I think both I you know I
11:34
I came I came with I had a strong idea of what I wanted what I thought the film could be what I thought a film like this
11:41
could be and it's very different from other iterations it's different from other adaptations of plays to films it's
11:46
this is a fully cinematic experience like this is a full thing in this film um and I wanted to push that you know I
11:53
want it was kind of bold to take this revered work and say okay but we're going to we're going to mix it up a
11:58
little bit um so I wanted to show them what I had in mind you know hey if you like this
12:04
idea if you like if you're behind this vision of it then let's let's do it let's rally the troops I love this for
12:10
all of the people that's listening and then Malcolm for everyone that's going to see this um how long did this take
12:17
from the time that you had the idea cuz people want things so fast you know um
12:22
but you're you you grew up you know um in this but still you had to do the work
12:27
so for everyone listening how how long did this take for you from start to finish this is a deeply deeply deeply personal and considered work right so
12:34
this is not something you put in the microwave this is like this CA this story came out of my digitizing my
12:42
family photos and building out my family tree and putting my life in the con context of my ancestors um and that
12:48
process with the writing started in 2020 in Co so it's it's been about four years
12:54
of consistently working through this thing to get to the point where now it's going to come out
13:00
do the work y'all work do the work and so there's been a lot of narrative about the black family and when I look at what
13:08
your family is doing right now you know and it's quiet you know I don't even feel like people are flagging the fact
13:14
that your the whole family is involved in this work right we don't often see that he I told you by the time I went to
13:21
Miami and I was with these amazing people who U did some dental work for me and out our friend yeah Dr her
13:29
you know her her husband's her partner her best friends her controller accountant you know and I was like wow
13:36
they did it right families living together you know and working together
13:41
what's wrong with that especially in the black community we always say well why how come we don't do it like this other
13:46
community yeah you know the those folks over here they got to figure it out they got grocery stores they got a chain
13:52
these folks they're clothing us these folks they're feeding us but we're not working together y your family I'm
14:00
curious is is this happening naturally or is this a mission you know did y'all
14:06
discuss like one day yeah you know I it's happening naturally and I I don't think that we're the exception okay I
14:12
think that we we are we are a culture that that that works together I think we are a culture that is universally
14:18
connected I was living I was living in Paris for a bit this summer I was there for a few months and it was so
14:24
interesting seeing how uh black people interacted there versus black people interacting here where here I could be
14:31
in a city I've never been to and I see a black person walking down the street you make eye contact you acknowledge each other's pres that that black exact
14:39
you're connected you're connected um and so I think that it's more the thing where people are constantly telling us
14:44
that we're disconnected people are constantly telling us that our families are broken where they're not we are
14:50
connected we we share this experience and and we're a connected culture um Gil
14:56
Scott talks about it a lot on his he is a poem where he's like uh he said he
15:01
said people keep telling me I come from a broken home but if they ever bothered to phone there they would know that
15:06
there was love and and I think that that's where we all come from um and and my family works together there's a lot
15:12
of families that work together Wayans yeah yeah but outside of entertainment outside of entertainment just in our culture that's inherent to us so I think
15:19
that seeing it and acknowledging it is important because it exists people are just telling you it doesn't it yeah man I love this uh Malcolm Washington is
15:26
here we're talking about uh the piano Lon which is on Netflix this Friday
15:31
Malcolm I did some calculation brother and you were born what 90
15:37
919191 um that was around the time your dad was um really working on the Malcolm X movie with Spike Lee yeah here's the
15:45
question bro did he name you after Malcolm X no
15:51
so I was named okay so I got a I got a theory I was named after my cousin
15:56
Malcolm but but these things lined up right was born in La 91 um when they're
16:03
working on he's preparing for Malcolm X but there's so much power in the name like I feel so I feel a strong connection to Malcolm eggs my mom's name
16:11
is paeta um she carries a suffix from three generations of edas that come
16:16
before her and in that in that suffix she carries you know the the the hopes and traditions and values of the women
16:23
that came before her so I think even just the connection of that name there's so much power in that um that I I feel a
16:30
connection to my cousin and to Malcolm X at the same time and and I find peace and protection with that I love this all
16:36
right cool man um you get a chance to to first of all
16:42
that was really beautifully said a minute Round of Applause um always wonder because I always see your dad um
16:49
I love his interviews because he always brings up a quote there's always a quote he's a quote guy that means he's a
16:56
reader he's a reader have a reader but a collector of it too you know he's like in there you go to the house you go to
17:03
the house and he's just in there I got to tell you something he's I just I just saw this thing you know so he's just
17:08
like that yeah see I wanted to know if that's the guy he is when the cameras are off you you should see him when the
17:13
cameras off but now my dad turned 70 this year you know so he's like who he
17:19
is who he is regardless of camera or not these days he just is and I love it he seems so free bro right man SV he looks
17:27
great I man that makes me good man do you recall any quotes as a child you
17:32
know my mother used to say to me when I thought I was getting over cuz I was very
17:38
um I don't want to use the word manipulative but it was smart I was smart it was a thin line between charm
17:46
and being manipulative right and she used to laugh at me and say you're going to fool some of the people all the time
17:52
and all the people some of the time but you can never fool yourself she used to always say that and so whenever I was
17:58
bullshitting d That's Heavy I couldn't I couldn't escape it cuz I know I was bullshitting and I couldn't fool myself
18:05
you got to look yourself in the mirror you got to look and you know the truth and you know the truth any quotes your dad laid on you grown up too many um the
18:13
two the two that are just like consistent the most consistent are stay ready so you don't have to get ready
18:19
okay that's some Hustler talk right there okay all right but that's my dad that's your dad I know that's my dad I know your dad yeah um and that that is
18:27
like just thoughts of preparation you know like preparation like he's a he's a considered and prepared man for for for
18:34
the work yeah um and the other thing you would always say is he's like you can be right a hundred times you only got to be
18:40
wrong once um and so just to understand the stakes and the decisions that you make you know you can you can slide by a
18:47
hundred times but that one time that that you that you take your eye off the ball that could be that could be the downfall so let me say this um two
18:56
instances I grew up in your dad's era and when your dad did train to day I was there when they were filming one thing
19:02
your dad said he told everybody on the set he said you know what let me do the acting you just be
19:08
you and that put all the homies were putting a different perspective when they said that because they felt oh okay
19:14
because they thought they couldn't be them he cleaning it up didn't nobody want to be like blood no he said no man
19:20
let me do the acting y'all do you that's out of respect respect right that's out of respect for our culture as a people
19:26
like that there's value in our stories there's value in all of us you know there's a filmmaker that I'm so influenced by um and he's somebody that
19:33
I've been chasing in the sense that when I started I when I saw his work early it made me feel like okay I can tell I can
19:40
be myself I can tell my stories and that was Ryan cougler Ryan when you see Ryan cooler come talk he sounds like he's
19:47
from Oakland he sounds he speaks to his truth his movies are so honest they have a heart in them that mirrors its maker
19:55
um and he's somebody that that does the same he respects and Val a culture he comes from and puts it on the highest
20:01
level there's a quote another quote your father said that I want to bring up uh
20:06
there's a difference between making films and being a
20:13
filmmaker So Dope right what does that mean he said you're a filmmaker what does that mean I I I'm
20:22
I'm really moved by that I'm really moved by that you know obviously I'm sure everybody everybody has different
20:28
relationship with their father um so hearing somebody give you love in in that kind
20:34
of way you know black black Fathers and Sons is sometimes it's a little it's a dance sometimes um so so hearing that
20:41
was really meaningful to me because I think it it suggests that there's that
20:47
you're here on this Earth for a period of time with a purpose and if if when
20:53
you find your identity it's is finding that purpose that you're supposed to walk through this life with so I'm
20:58
hoping I'm reading into that that he thinks that this is my purpose that I'm walking in my purpose and I'm grateful
21:04
for that I love it man add one more thing please I don't want to interrupt you please go ahead man Qui passion you
21:11
tell them no new segment alert let's keep it
21:17
100 sh Johnny Carson just ask the question
21:24
to the Thug Passion segment here's the thing I want to say can you
21:30
elaborate on and S your questions are great what you're saying can you elaborate on what it's like to have a
21:36
black father in the household was a stop right there don't
21:41
say nothing El all right okay that was beautiful yeah you know I I am grateful
21:47
to have to be to have been raised by two strong uh smart connected parents that
21:56
valued a consciousness valued their culture valued intellect and education
22:02
uh valued Community um but the way I grew up my dad was working a lot too you
22:07
know he was gone he was making the movies that we all love um so I grew up with my mom a lot like I really connect
22:13
to stories like that where they where there's like the mother and the son or the mom raising the household um and
22:20
like Gil Scott says again you know I was I was raised by women and because of them I'm a man so I found my masculinity
22:25
and my manhood so much in my connection to my mother MH um because she was the one that was took me to practice every
22:31
day she was the one that put the autobiography of Malcolm X in my hand she was the one that that showed me that
22:36
men could be strong and independent and also tender and patient you know she was the one that kind of put that in me and
22:43
my dad did it by example you know I I watch his F I see him in training day I see him in John Q I'm like okay that
22:49
yeah that's that's like everybody like you all you know I watch that and see those ideals on the screen as well but
22:54
my mom to be honest with you was the one that was doing it every day that I did you get to go on any of the sets
23:00
though as a kid I was there in the Jays I was there there yeah what color you
23:07
wear don't fny Antoine fuka was like really is is a a fantastic filmmaker and
23:14
a great Community Builder as well and he um he welcomed Us in and let us watch so Malcolm for Our Generation like say for
23:21
sway and I to come our parents I think just wanted us to do what they some of
23:26
them didn't do some of them didn't get out of high school college sometimes wasn't an option they graduated they got
23:32
government jobs and that was a good deal so for us they wanted us to go to college I remember me specifically
23:38
coming home to my mother and father going I want be a rapper yeah they were like get out like this this this not
23:45
going to happen like you're going to college you're going to do this this rapping missed me with that for you
23:52
was it automatic almost let me say that you would fall into this uh what would have happened if you would came home and
23:58
say I want to be a casino dealer like I something crazy yeah they would have been like well you better get up and start shuffling cards or something you
24:04
know like like learn how whatever you care about be passionate about and attack that but I have a a really good
24:09
friend of mine one of my best friends growing up uh his dad is a incredible
24:16
brain surgeon he's black he's like one of the greatest brain surgeons in the world he's black black dude and his mom
24:21
is incredible doctor as well she's black woman um and his mom is a huge film
24:27
lover like I would talk to her in in college about really obscure like films
24:32
yeah and she had seen everything you know so I would always connect with her on that Dr Bennett was her name and I
24:37
would talk to her I was like in I went to an Ivy League school so and when you go to Ivy League school there's a the
24:42
school I went to was like a big there was a big business school where'd you go Pennsylvania I went to upen exactly so there's huge Wharton is like a great
24:49
business school so you're there and you feel this pressure of like oh I need to be an investment banker I need to go into finance and have a real stable job
24:55
and at that time even in my family at that time being wanting to be an artist was like a crazy kind of endeavor like
25:01
you're at pen you should go do business and I was talking to her about it and she was like you know my parents she
25:08
from her point of view she's like my parents couldn't go to college my parents uh didn't have the opportunities
25:14
I had so they made us be lawyers and doctors they put us through school and we were the lawyers and we were the
25:19
doctors so that y'all could be the artists oh so that y'all could Chase your dream that I I could I'll work the
25:26
90 hour weeks I'll do that so that you can have the space to chase the thing that you're passionate about and that
25:32
meant so much to me sure and and in that moment I was like okay I'm going to go I'm gonna try this thing man oh this is
25:39
great conversation Malcolm Washington is here man get this man a round of applause the piano lesson um Friday
25:46
Friday Friday is there a world where you see um a movie that you direct that
25:52
stars John David and Denzel Washington and and throw Olivia in there too yeah
25:58
right um man that you know who I think could really do that is Spike I feel like Spike I think Spike can make it
26:04
happen you got to call Spike I gotta call I feel like a Spike spike got dibs on that Spike that's my guy you know
26:10
Spike's my guy so I love spike man I love spike I owe so much to spike um speak to that just you know in in our in
26:18
our culture spike is like if in coming in the 90s if you wanted to make movies it' be oh you want to be Lee you
26:24
know that's like he's the one um he's the Lexicon the film lexicon for all of us and what people don't know what he
26:30
does behind the scenes behind cameras of how many black people he's gotten in the unions how many black people he's gotten
26:35
be to become Teamsters because he won't start a production without them he puts his on the line for black people working
26:42
in film um and I got the opportunity to work for him and see that firsthand see what it was like to be a working
26:48
director show up six days a week at 5: in the morning you know and put that put that out put those hours in um so I lot
26:54
to spike so spike it Spike it's spikes Spike I could talk to Spike I got Spike's number you didn't see me and
27:00
she's got to have it not she's got with the uh the Remake though yeah you saw me in there you saw me that yes sorry who'
27:08
you play me Let her let her know let her know I
27:14
play me I got I got paid to be me all right sway I got I got a I what is it
27:20
IMDb I got to I got to look I've done a lot of movies in case you know oh call
27:25
you you said you said you're going to come with the set visit I'll come to visit you know I did Will Packer put me in stump the yard love stump the yard
27:32
come on Love Will Packer salute to him um who else who else have I did uh uh what I do we did um Death Wish Death
27:40
Wish with Bruce Willis Eli Roth I'm like I've seen both y'all in in something was
27:45
it was it you might have saw us you might have saw us in L cage may I could just throw a lot
27:51
of I'm trivia I'm Cinema trivia right now dude you might have saw empire did you see Empire series I did a couple
27:59
here's the thing that he has though that he's not ask him who did he play in all of these do this again yeah well just
28:04
cuz you want to with a director now okay I'm audition and you're read yeah you're reading your resume out go ahead um sway
28:11
who did you play in Stomp the Yard I played me yeah okay but what's wrong
28:16
with that I'm just saying malm talk to me Mal yo okay means
28:22
he's built himself up enough to be a draw they called him for a reason both y'all ask me the next next movie who did
28:28
you play in Death Wish
28:34
me who did you play in Luke Cage me
28:40
yeah who did you play in top five but are you clock in the different readings
28:45
though he saying the same line three different four different readings Chris Rock did a movie top five I said who did
28:51
you play I play me I love top five too yeah you saw me yeah you want to read my
28:56
credits you want to know who played who you play in dead press peaches who you
29:01
play in L cage Heather that was that was cuz I came with S I came
29:06
with s so they wrote me in shout out to our guy you played in death wish that was with s that
29:14
was but I got mad different people I'm mad different people who was you in the
29:19
Doritos commercial I was with s okay who were you in the Nike commercial that's
29:24
my voice I'm just saying y got y' got a lot of credit busy sisters I was a nosy neighbor Cher like I got mad who are you
29:32
and sisters with Tyler Perry Cheryl nosy neighbor who was I in um I'm sorry like
29:40
this is what we fight we fight when guest all right you was Cory CU I know Parkers okay my firsty from MTV yeah wow
29:49
okay but I was Cory I was his way put some Applause thank you thank you brother you
29:54
all right who was you in Empire homie I was you know your brother man you was so who would play you as a kid then who was
30:00
I as a kid if you made your own movie if he he's the producer director correct yeah if you want to make a movie way who
30:07
would you choose to play your role as you as a child cuz you're at that age homie uh wow I said the Thug Passion
30:15
segment was over I'm bringing you in what age if it's like in mid 20s I'll get miles um miles Frost miles Frost to
30:23
play me the dude who play MJ okay okay n yo you trying to this movie homie you know what you know I'mma sell it to him
30:30
right now if it's a current like you know let's say a 30y old Swiggity you know
30:36
I'll get Jonathan Maes to play me okay or I'll get Daniel K somebody like that
30:41
n you just go for names realistic Michael Jackson can't play you all right
30:47
anyway Malcolm MTV I feel like we at the house
30:52
this is what it is yeah all right uh the movie is already getting um Oscar bu so
30:58
you you you awarded the Breakthrough award at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival that's true yeah this dude
31:05
said that was so much humility congrat thank you thank you
31:11
thank you that means something man uh you was honored as breakthrough director at the 32nd Hampton's wow International
31:17
Film Festival and the 13th U marclair Film Festival thank you wow yeah yeah
31:23
man it's exciting it's exciting it's exciting to to it's strange you know the film is so personal it's so personal so
31:30
to to now that it's coming out and and being shared with the world it's it's trippy a little bit enjoy it yeah cuz I
31:37
was going to say is this part tough for you like stepping is a little tough for yeah I'm not comfortable here you know
31:42
it's like I I these things you make at your desk or or you know with a bunch of people on set where you're all connected
31:48
to the thing and to now be in front of cameras and and walking around with this like that's not that's not your that's
31:54
not me you know that's not me they can't TR you for that at the same time I'm I'm incredibly blessed and and honored that
32:01
people want to engage in the conversation about the work that we did and I think what we did is so important that people should engage in it so being
32:08
here is like an absolute honor as well well we love you and it's way we've been excited you know we've been talking
32:13
about you being here and we hope that you feel comfortable here feel like you're in the house in the living room cuz your family to us it doesn't have to
32:20
be a blood thing but out of respect and leg Legacy and I think we could both agree just sitting and listening to you
32:26
speak it's just so engaging and so warm and the fact that you do have respect
32:31
for your family specifically the women in your family and the Legacy that they left behind is just we we have to
32:37
embrace you and support this so love to you Malcolm for real for Malcolm Washington man the piano lesson
32:44
streaming on Netflix this Friday brother tell your beautiful amazing mom we said Peace and respect and tell your dad we
32:50
said the same okay you should have both of them come in here tell them to come up come up yo malol just say it so
32:57
casually like yeah tell my parents okay do you know who your parents are well let them watch this and that we would
33:02
love to have them up we'll get a whole different room for them we'll just we'll make just a living room conversation
33:08
absolutely cuz I feel like your father can mediate a lot of the conversations between Heather and me you know what I
33:13
mean we fight every day like brothers and sisters but it's love love man give it up for Malcolm Washington citizens
33:20
okay we coming right back shave 4 five you want to say anything in closing you got y'all got it yo you and Ryan cougler
33:26
should work together man I I love that guy I'm I'm I'm really really really influenced by him so have you met yeah I
33:32
he actually gave me he gave me some incredible let me I'll give you one one quick one quick story I I the first uh
33:42
class I ever took on film making was a summer program at USC and when I was there the it it it was getting some the
33:49
film I was making was getting some love they like you should think about coming to film school here I was like oh well who at the time I'm like what I wonder
33:55
if there's any black filmmakers here but before that I was like who's just the good filmmakers that are making stuff here and they like oh there's this guy
34:00
you should check him out he's about to graduate but here's his film and it was Ryan cougler so i' been CH from that
34:06
moment I'm like been watching his but this is before he made a a feature so I've been watching his stuff and I
34:11
randomly met him at a store here in LA and I invited him to The Cutting Room on piano lesson uh said hey can if you want
34:17
to come give me notes like I'd really appreciate that and he came and gave me notes and one of the notes he gave me
34:24
turned into me putting my mom in the movie so a big part of why my mom is in the movie is because of a note
34:29
Ryan couler gave me okay so he's from Oakland I know it's
34:36
to say that I'm from Oak you know Ryan's from Oakland makes sense to me man that's amazing thank you for that story
34:42
brother than for sharing that Malcolm Washington get to know him if you don't know him yet he ain't going to do a
34:47
whole lot of speaking in a minute you know he's going to be unavailable he's going to be unavailable all right you can find us in the cinema room at their
34:54
home okay thank you for coming through brother have a beautiful day man
#Drama Films
#Family & Relationships