--- title: Fences Trailer: See Viola Davis, Denzel Washington description: Viola Davis and Denzel Washington star in the powerful first trailer for the film, 'Fences,' which was based on August Wilson's play. canonical: https://time.com/4509463/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences-trailer/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-27T16:18:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:57:05.666Z og:title: Watch Viola Davis & Denzel Washington in the 'Fences' Trailer og:description: The film is headed to theaters this Christmas og:url: https://time.com/4509463/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences-trailer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6713b1a9d37b1f3d/6988a7b2cd1bba06817027b9/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Viola Davis & Denzel Washington in the 'Fences' Trailer twitter:description: The film is headed to theaters this Christmas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6713b1a9d37b1f3d/6988a7b2cd1bba06817027b9/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Viola Davis and Denzel Washington in the Emotional First _Fences_ Trailer ## Video: This Video Is No Longer Available [Watch (HLS stream): This Video Is No Longer Available](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8) (0:10)  _Published 2026-06-23. The film is headed to theaters this Christmas_  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 27, 2016 4:18 PM CUT  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 27, 2016 4:18 PM CUT The first trailer for the upcoming movie _Fences_ is just under two minutes, but still packs an emotional punch with the brief time it has — which is no doubt due to the combined star power of [Viola Davis](http://time.com/4505956/viola-davis-emmys-2016/ "undefined") and [Denzel Washington](http://time.com/4495410/magnificent-seven-1960-review/ "undefined"). The film, which is based on the [August Wilson play of the same name](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1000314,00.html "undefined"), takes place in 1950s Pittsburgh and centers around a retired baseball player named Troy (Washington), his wife, Rose (Davis), and their son Cory (Jovan Adepo); infidelity, racial discrimination, and family dynamics are all examined through the lens of Troy and his family. In the clip, Troy and his son share an emotionally charged conversation about their relationship, which eventually ends in an intense exchange between Troy and Rose about the life that they share together. “It’s not easy for me to admit I’ve been standing in the same place for 18 years,” he says in the closing moments of the clip. “Well I’ve been standing with you. I gave 18 years of my life to stand in the same spot as you,” Rose responds. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4509463/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences-trailer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4509463/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences-trailer/"},"headline":"Watch Viola Davis and Denzel Washington in the Emotional First Fences Trailer","datePublished":"2016-09-27T16:18:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:57:05.666Z","description":"The film is headed to theaters this Christmas","url":"https://time.com/4509463/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences-trailer/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","movies","Viola Davis","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6713b1a9d37b1f3d/6988a7b2cd1bba06817027b9/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6713b1a9d37b1f3d/6988a7b2cd1bba06817027b9/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences","caption":"","creditText":"(Credit: Paramount)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4509463/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences-trailer/","name":"Watch Viola Davis and Denzel Washington in the Emotional First Fences Trailer"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"The film is headed to theaters this Christmas","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4509463/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences-trailer/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4509463/viola-davis-denzel-washington-fences-trailer/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```