Denzel Washington, Viola Davis build strong 'Fences'

LOS ANGELES — Vin Diesel helped prove to Denzel Washington that great Fences need good neighbors.

Washington invited the office next door on the Paramount lot — occupied by Diesel and his producer sister Samantha Vincent — to show them his editing work on August Wilson’s Fences, in a scene featuring Viola Davis’ Rose talking about standing by her husband for 18 years.

Washington could hear murmurs of “That’s right” from the two as Davis spoke Wilson’s words.

“It was (Davis’) power and her honesty. And his words. It had some kind of effect,” says Washington. “For a man to write that for a woman, about how she feels about a man, it’s very interesting.”

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Make that utterly compelling, as Washington, 61, unveils his directorial effort and starring turn as former Negro League baseball player Troy Maxson alongside his devoted Rose in the film adaptation of Fences (in theaters Christmas Day). The actors reprise their Tony Award-winning roles from the 2010 Broadway revival of Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

Two-time Oscar nominee Davis, 51, star of TV’s How to Get Away With Murder, waited patiently, but expectantly, to speak Wilson’s words again for film.

“How often do you get great material? I don’t. I always say I have to make a filet mignon out of a fried chicken dinner,” says Davis, causing Washington to laugh. “Seriously. That’s what you do as an actor. It’s a job. But when it’s a great narrative, a complete journey and character — it’s a no-brainer.”

Two-time Oscar winner Washington gets animated talking about Wilson, standing up in a crowded L.A. restaurant to demonstrate scenes (“I get excited, don’t I?” he grins). The actor, who has signed on to produce nine Wilson plays for HBO (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is in development now), craved a movie part where he didn’t have to “massage the material.”

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“The best pieces of material I had from 'go,' before we had to get in there and make filet mignon, were A Soldier’s Story (1984), from a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and Fences,” says Washington. “This is rare air. This is August Wilson, this is Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill."

After two weeks of rehearsals, the movie cast plumbed the relentless emotional depths of the dialogue, making Washington and Davis front-runners in the race for best actor and supporting actress Oscars. Davis’ pivotal “18 years” scene required 23 wrenching takes.

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“I counted,” Davis says. “And then I thought, 'OK, now I can relax, I’ll have my Painkiller,' " a Caribbean drink.

“It’s literally called a Painkiller?” says Washington, cough-laughing on his fresh grapefruit juice.

“Yes, and it’s delicious by the way,” says Davis, adding that the intense scenes picked right back up. “It started all over again the next day. It did not end.”

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It did close with a final dramatic scene and what seemed like a supernatural sign of support from Pittsburgh native Wilson, who died in 2005.

“We had this wide shot, and the gate behind everyone in the shot just closed. And I just felt, ‘Wow!’ "  says Washington. “People were like, 'Did you put a string on it?' No, it was just August wanting to be here. He came in for the last scene.”