Release Date Set for Denzel Washington's Big Screen Adaptation of Tony-Winning Fences

Fences has already won the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony, but could an Oscar be next? Denzel Washington’s big screen adaptation of the August Wilson play has been scheduled for a launch by Paramount on December 16, right in the middle of “awards season.” According to Deadline, the film will be released wide to movie theaters on Christmas Day.

Tee film stars Washington and his former Broadway co-stars Viola Davis, Mykelti Williamson and Russell Hornsby. Both Washington and Davis won Tonys for their performances in the 2010 Main Stem revival; James Earl Jones led the 1987 original production.

Fences is one of the 10 plays in Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, focusing on the African-American experience in the 20th century. The play, which takes place in the 1950s, centers on Troy Maxson (Washington), a Pittsburgh sanitation worker who once dreamed of a baseball career, but was too old when the major leagues finally admitted black players. As he faces off against the racial barrier at work and his own disappointments, Troy also grapples with his son Cory over the teenager’s hope for a football scholarship and with his wife, Rose (Davis), who confronts Troy over a child he has fathered with another woman.