Denzel Washington is steering clear of the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day, according to his daughter.
“Dad stays [as] far away from the turkey as possible,” Katia Washington exclusively told Us Weekly at the Los Angeles premiere of The Piano Lesson earlier this month. “Mom [Pauletta Washington] has the whole situation on lock. We’re just happy to be there.”
Aside from letting Pauletta, 74, take the lead with cooking, Katia told Us her family often spends the holiday “watching movies, dissecting movies, telling jokes [and] telling set stories.”
Katia is one of Denzel’s four children. He and Pauletta, who wed in 1983, also share son John David, 40, and twins Malcolm and Olivia, 33.
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One film the famous family is sure to be talking about this Thanksgiving is Netflix’s The Piano Lesson. Based on the 1987 play of the same name by August Wilson, the film stars John David as Boy Willie and marks Malcolm’s feature directorial debut. Denzel, 69, and Katia served as producers on the project, while Pauletta and Olivia portray the older and younger versions of Mama Ola, respectively.
“It started with John David doing the play on Broadway. So, we kind of knew that he was loosely attached to it,” Katia told Us of how the movie became a family affair. “My dad and Todd Black as the producers are the stewards of these August Wilson stories, so they had it in mind to use Virgil Williams, who they’d worked with before. And Malcolm had a take, and he brought the take, and he kept convincing people and convincing people, and he was gracious enough to bring me along.”
Malcolm exclusively told Us that reading the play for the first time felt like “archiving my family photos,” adding, “I was trying to understand myself in relation to all that came before me.”
He explained: “Having a material that directly engaged in that was so exciting. I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I felt so seen in the work. Had to attack. I had to go after it.”
Denzel’s legendary Hollywood career had a big impact on Malcolm, who told Us that “watching his approach and dedication and how hard it is, and his focus in it was very inspiring.” He noted: “It was such a good kind of outline of what it takes to be a working artist, you know, seeing him and my mom go at it. So it was like, that was like the North Star.”
Williams, who cowrote the film’s screenplay with Malcolm, exclusively told Us that he “learned a lot about love” through watching Denzel as a father. “I learned a lot about unity. I learned a lot about how to hold it together, mutual respect and a certain kind of openness that requires a great deal,” he shared. “They’ve all taught me a great deal. I’m hyper blessed, super crazy, blessed.”
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Michael Potts, who plays Wining Boy in The Piano Lesson, praised the Washington family while chatting exclusively with Us at the film’s L.A. premiere. “What a great family. It’s like these kids were raised well, I mean, every last one of them are kind, generous,” he gushed. “I mean, outside of just their incredible talent, individual talents and gifts, they are genuinely good people. … They’re incredibly good, welcoming people.”
The Piano Lesson is now streaming on Netflix.
With reporting by Sienna Leone
