Chadwick Boseman ‘s death left the whole world in shock, no one knew that he had been fighting cancer for the previous 4 years and was even receiving treatments at the time of filming Black Panther and some of his best movies.
The void that the actor left will be impossible to fill, but his fans will have a new opportunity to see him on the big screen (as happened with James Dean after his death, with the releases of Rebel Without a Cause and Giant) with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom , a George C. Wolfe film in which Boseman appears alongside Viola Davis and Glynn Turman.
A few weeks after the actor’s death, Netflix has just shared the first images of the film, which is an adaptation of August Wilson ‘s award-winning 1984 play, which is expected to become one of the most nominated films in the season of awards of 2021, with the possibility even of giving Boseman an Oscar for Best Actor (joining the likes of Heath Ledger and other actors who have been recognized after death).
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is set in 1927 Chicago and Boseman , who inspired millions with Black Panther , plays a trumpeter named Levee, while Viola Davis brings to life the legendary “Mother of Blues,” the real-life singer Ma Rainey.
In an interview with the New York Times, Viola Davis and Denzel Washington, who produces the film, revealed that working with Boseman had been a great experience. “He did a brilliant job and he’s gone,” Washington said. “I still can’t believe it.”
Viola Davis and Denzel Washington.
“Many actors confuse their presence with the event,” Davis said. “An actor of Chadwick’s status usually shows up and it’s their ego that shows up before them: this is what they want, this is what they’re not going to do. That was absolutely, 150 percent of the table with Chadwick. He could Completely discard any ego he had, any vanity he had, and welcome Levee.” Viola even revealed that she, too, had no idea Chadwick Boseman was sick and had been shooting movies while undergoing chemotherapy and undergoing life-saving surgeries, though she did say she did notice he looked tired and had a whole crew trying to keep him going. energy to keep working.
The trailer:
The first trailer reveals a story set in the 20s, full of music and marked by the social and racial difficulties of the time. Boseman plays one of the musicians in Ma Rainey’s band, a legendary singer known as the “Mother of Blues,” who is controlled by a white manager who wants to profit from her by exploiting her.
What is Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom about?
The official description reads: “Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey, her ambitious trumpet player, and white management determined to rein in the uncontrollable “Mother of the Blues.” Based on the play by Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson.”
On the other hand, Davis also said that the story would have a new meaning in the wake of Boseman’s death and what his character goes through in the film.
Chadwick.
“I think a lot of times, people look at someone’s life backwards,” he said. “We now have the unfortunate knowledge that Chadwick succumbed to cancer at age 43, but in reality, Levee represents so many black men living in America. What we are constantly navigating on a day-to-day basis is the trauma of our past: we are trying to heal from it, we are even trying to understand that it is there, and we are negotiating that with our dreams and who we want to become… Now we know that the paper reflects the life of Chadwick, but if those were left out, still it reflects his life in some way. Because it reflects the life of every grieving black person, and especially the life of a black man.”
