Chadwick Boseman's final film appearance is a stirring love letter to blues and the triumphs of Black talent. In Ma Rainey's Black Bottom [1], an adaptation of the August Wilson play of the same name, the late actor portrays a trumpeter in 1920s Chicago performing in a band for the titular character [2], played by Viola Davis. he film is set to drop on 18th Dec.
Boseman had already been battling colon cancer [3] for three years when he filmed Ma Rainey's Black Bottom in the summer of 2019, but Davis said his work ethic was unshakeable [4]. "He would just fall asleep standing up, but boy, when that camera rolled? You didn't see any of it," she said in a recent interview with Zora. Davis added, "He was not chasing the green, not chasing the money, just chasing the work . . . He has a willingness to let go of ego and almost an insistence to leave Chadwick Boseman at the door and leave that Black Panther [5]-making-a-billion-dollars at the door."
Watch the trailer above, then catch a glimpse of Boseman as Levee in a first-look scene ahead.
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