We’re gonna be frank here. If Danielle Deadwyler doesn’t earn a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in Malcolm Washington’s big-screen adaptation of “The Piano Lesson,” we will not be happy. And, trust me, we won’t be the only ones.

READ MORE: “The Piano Lesson” Review: Danielle Deadwyler Isn’t Here For Sibling Foolishness [Telluride]

Deadwyler has already gone through what many would consider a heartbreaking awards season run. Two years ago, she was considered a likely Best Actress nominee for her work in “Till.” At least, that was the prevailing thought in October, but as the season progressed, her momentum faded. First came the SAG Awards snub and then being overlooked by The Academy itself. Deadwyler had pounded the pavement and had rave reviews for her performance, but it wasn’t enough. Now, two years later, she’s in one of the most competitive Supporting Actress races in decades with nothing assured. Luckily, “The Piano Lesson” has an even deeper connection to her than “Till.” Like many Americans, August Wilson‘s plays have been part of her life since she was in middle school.

“I’ve seen just about every one of the August Wilson Century Cycle plays,” Deadwyler says. “If not, seen a production, I’ve seen a reading or read it myself. It’s just been a part of my life since I was a middle schooler, and it’s the way that I’ve learned how to be an actor. It’s like that’s the pinnacle. That’s the kind of work you want to do. “O.K., then this comes around, yes, I want to do this. Yes, I know this. Yes, this has taught me how to be who I am, not just as an artist, but also as a person in black culture making art.”

During a conversation last month, Deadwyler reflected on working with both Malcolm and his brother John David Washington, what she wanted to bring to Bernice, why you should watch “Lesson” on Netflix, and much more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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The Playlist: This movie is a Washington family affair. How did you get involved? How did it come your way?

Danielle Deadwyler: My team said, “Hey, Danielle, this is possible. You want to do this?” “Yeah, yeah, I do.” And then, I first had a conversation with Malcolm. He’s the first one I met, and we sat, and we talked about all kinds of things. We talked about art. We barely touched on the script, and on Bernice, really, we just hit on art, and we hit on our own personal interests and things of that nature and ways we think about film. Films we like. Blah, blah, blah, process. All that stuff was the first things that meshed me into this artistic family. And so then we just ran from there.

When you had that conversation, do you remember having a sense of what his vision for this movie would be?

All I knew was that we were hybridizing the genre. Right. I knew we were talking about an intergenerational approach, and that all spoke to me in saying that this will be fresh. This is not a play on screen. This is a new adaptation. And that excited me. He was bringing in elements of horror. He was defining black images at that time and applying that to this filmmaking process. So, I just was like, “Yeah, you want to be in something that’s testing, pushing the waters like that.”

Had you seen the play or the recent Broadway revival?

Yeah, I’ve seen just about every one of the August Wilson Century Cycle plays if not seen a production. I’ve seen a reading or read myself. It’s just been a part of my life since I was a middle schooler, and it’s the way that I’ve learned how to be an actor. It’s like that’s the pinnacle. That’s the kind of work you want to do. “O.K., then this comes around, yes, I want to do this. Yes, I know this. Yes, this has taught me how to be who I am, not just as an artist, but also as a person in black culture making art.”

As someone who has seen likely several other actresses play this role, what did you want to bring to Bernice?

I mean, I’m bringing my own personal fresh perspective. I have a personal artistic practice that is committed to excavating. What does it mean to labor as a black woman, to labor as a black mother, to labor as a southern black woman, or black southern black mother? Those are elements of my own personal exploration that are applicable to Bernice. Right. She’s challenging. What does it mean to labor spiritually? What does it mean to labor as a mother? What does it mean to labor economically to negotiate the dynamics of a relationship? She’s someone who has made the great migration, that historical trek for a variety of reasons and has come into a desire for kind of upward mobility, and that upward mobility is in question when her brother comes and brings that sense of urgent change in understanding what an heirloom that has value and is material. What does that mean to you, and what does it mean for your own familial growth? And so I brought that understanding to this offering.

John David Washington and Samuel L. Jackson had performed the role on Broadway only a few months before shooting. Trepidation is probably the wrong word, but was there any apprehension of how to make this our own?

No, no. None of us had that. It is a purely different experience in that it is an adaptation that Virgil Williams and Malcolm Washington have made. It lives in your body and in your experience differently because you get to see those memories [that] the play doesn’t get to [show]. We are there. We’re with her when she’s in love with Crawley. we are with Boy Willie when he’s with his father. John David always says he’s placed at the scene of the crime, the scene of the taking back of the legacy of the piano. That creates a whole different dynamic for the blood of the play, for the blood of the screenplay. So that’s a funny thing. We didn’t have this overly drawn-out conversation about what it means to relate. I think we all had distinctive conversations with Malcolm and continued to all have distinctive conversations and visceral conversations with Malcolm about the making of these people, but conversations with each other that didn’t happen. I think [the movie] was much more intuitive, much more raw. And if you’re being honest thinking about it, they’re not having a dialogue. There’s something a hidden something that comes when you’re talking about a family that is not having a conversation about trauma, that is not having a rigorous conversation about things that are impacting them personally and deeply. And so I think all that served us well to employ or to not employ in the making of the film.

Was there any scene that you thought “I have to be super focused” this day?

I have to be super focused every day. There is no one scene because that’s the thing. Everything is so underneath. Everybody’s not necessarily saying all that they want to say, “Just get out of my house. Get out of my house.” But there is something underneath that. Jada always talks about how there is love underneath that. And it’s hard to just say that. Yeah, well, listen, every day is a challenge. Every day is a challenge because if you’re not, then you miss out. And as an actor, as an artist in general, every inch of every day has to be powerful. Every inch of every day has to be completely poured into, no matter how small or how grand.

Listen, as a critic and writer I can scream from the mountaintops and tell people to watch it because I was so impressed with it and especially all of your performances. But what would you tell someone who’s turning on it’s on Netflix today? Why they should watch this movie?

I would tell them that family is critical for all of us. And how we connect a family is always in question. Whether it’s a blood family, a chosen family, a surprise family, whatever your relationship dynamic is, you want to know how you can move through the fire to come on the other side of connectivity. To come to the other side of understanding. And this is the film to model that for you.

That’s the perfect answer.

“The Piano Lesson” is now available on Netflix