“[Chadwick Boseman] brought everything. I think he brought things probably that were closer to himself than he would even want to imagine,” actor Colman Domingo said.
Fellow cast members call Chadwick Boseman’s performance astonishing and movie reviewers found his passing along with the release of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” heartbreaking.
The movie is Chadwick Boseman’s final performance and will be on Netflix on Friday. Viewing it for those who were fans of the late actor will be a bittersweet experience, but it should bring Boseman the attention he deserved in his short life.
“It’s a legendary screen performance,” according to director George C. Wolfe. “He approached the role with such ferocity and gave his guts to the role, and that’s what you see up on the screen.”
Chadwick Boseman is best known as “Black Panther,” and passed away last August at the tender age of 43. The cause of his death was colon cancer – a disease that he’s been secretly battling for four years.
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is a screen adaptation of August Wilson’s stage play of the same name. Chadwick Boseman plays Levee, an ambitious trumpet player, hungry for change. He clashes with blues singer Ma (who is played by Viola Davis) on a hot 1920s day in a Chicago recording studio.
One of the key moments in the movie is when Levee distances himself from God and turns his back on Black people.
In a speech he did for the movie, it was described as a chilling moment.
Michael Potts, who was playing in the movie’s band said that, “It’s like everything came to a stop.”
“Something very spiritual happened in that moment. It was something you could not look away from… It was an extraordinary moment. It was a terrifying moment as well,” Potts said.
“Ma Rainey” actor Colman Domingo who was playing another band member, said Boseman gave the speech his all.
“Chad brought everything. I think he brought things probably that were closer to himself than he would even want to imagine.
“August Wilson gave him the text and I think the text matched possibly those questions in his heart,” Domingo said.