The first trailer for Chadwick Boseman’s final film has arrived and acts as a reminder of the immeasurable loss that Chadwick’s friends, family and fans suffered earlier this year. The massively talented actor shines in the trailer for
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, which stars Viola Davis as the iconic ‘Mother of Blues’ in a role that could nab the actor her next Oscar.Based on August Wilson’s 1982 play by the same name, the film is set in Chicago in 1927 and follows Davis’ Ma Rainey as she navigates her career, which includes being celebrated by the Black community while facing exploitation from her white manager and record producers. Boseman plays a trumpet player named Levee whose dreams of making a name for himself put him at odds with the headstrong singer.
Shot during the summer of 2019 in Pittsburgh, the film also stars Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, and Michael Potts.
Ma Rainey reunites Davis with her
Fences director and costar Denzel Washington, who is one of the producers on the film. Washington’s involvement in Boseman’s final film has a bittersweet touch to it. While still a student studying at Howard University, Boseman received a private tuition donation to attend the prestigious summer acting program at Oxford University. The
Black Panther star later learned that his
donor was Washington.On August 28, the world was shocked when Chadwick Boseman’s family
announced that the actor had died at the age of 43. Unbeknownst to his fans and many of his friends and colleagues, the actor had been diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in 2016. Boseman passed away at home while surrounded by his
family, including his wife Taylor Simone Ledward. Following the announcement of Boseman’s death, tributes for the
42, Marshall, Get On Up, and
21 Bridges star began pouring in.Davis spoke to
The New York Times in September about her late co-star, saying that she’s even more in awe of the young actor now that she realizes how much he was suffering while filming the historical piece. “I’m looking back at how tired he always seemed,” said Davis. “I look at his beautiful, unbelievable team that was meditating over him and massaging him, and I now realize everything they were trying to infuse in him to keep him going and working at his optimal level. And he received it.”Davis was one of many of Boseman’s co-stars to honour the actor on social media after his passing. Boseman’s
Black Panther director
Ryan Coogler, as well as many of the film’s stars, including
Michael B. Jordan,
Lupita Nyong’o,
Letitia Wright and
Danai Gurira all publicly paid tribute to Boseman.
As noted by
Variety, Netflix, who is distributing
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, could push for Boseman to receive a posthumous Oscar nomination for his work in the film, as well as for his role in Spike Lee’s
Da 5 Bloods, which was released earlier this summer. If Boseman is nominated for both projects, he will be the first actor to receive two posthumous nominations in the same year.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom will begin streaming on Netflix starting December 18.[video_embed id='2025383']BEFORE YOU GO: Marvel pays tribute to Chadwick Boseman with emotional video[/video_embed]
