David Lee
The director of
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, an adaptation of August Wilson’s 1982 play that’s streaming now on Netflix, is discussing Hollywood’s seemingly reinvigorated appetite for adapting theater—evident in recent productions like
The Boys in the Band, The Prom, Cats, and even his own latest—but doesn’t believe it’s anything new.
“I think what is true is that Hollywood is filled with closeted theater folk,” he says. “And then periodically some of those people who are obsessed end up in positions of authority and they say, ‘Yes, we're doing it.’ That's what it's all about, and when you come through a period where a number of those people are making decisions, it feels like you're inside of a trend. But I think it's something much simpler than that: there's just a bunch of theater queens in L.A.”