Viola Davis on Chadwick Boseman: 'It's unbelievable what he was able to achieve'

Viola Davis had the pleasure of working alongside the late Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and she opened up about that experience with etalk's Sonia Beeksma. Davis plays the “Mother of Blues,” who was one of the first blues artists to record her work, in the film adaptation of August Wilson’s 1984 play.

Boseman plays a trumpeter named Levee, and it was the actor’s final role before his death earlier this year. He died of colon cancer at age 43 in August after keeping his diagnosis private for four years. Davis told Sonia that the Black Panther star was able to go on set and serve the role of Levee, leaving it all on the floor.

"Oh my god, it's unbelievable what he was able to achieve while he was going through this sort of devastating diagnosis in terms of probably what his body was going through," she said. "In terms of emotionally what he was going through, but he was able to channel all of that into an amazing performance and a performance that served the role, that wasn't about his pain or whatever he was going through."

"Someone who literally served what August Wilson left on his page, and he left it all on the floor," Davis added.

Davis said she was drawn to the character of Ma Rainey because of her vulnerability and firecracker personality. "All of those contradictions and complexities drew me in because often times people don't think Black or Brown people are complicated," Davis explained to Sonia. "They see us as one thing. You're either funny, you're hard, you're strong. She was so many different things so that I was absolutely attracted to." She said that she was also attracted to the fact that Ma Rainey "absolutely knew her worth, and she was unapologetic about it and never conceded."

In a recent interview with InStyle, the How to Get Away with Murder star said that Boseman was “a beautiful man and a great artist.” She referred to what Insecure actress Issa Rae had said after Boseman’s passing: “He was ours as African-Americans.” Davis said that the Black Panther star had “a quality that very few have today, whether young or old, which is total commitment to the art form of acting.” She mentioned that Boseman had been with the same agent throughout his entire career, and he did not like the “celebrity treatment.”

“He hated that. He really did,” she said before reflecting on a discussion the pair had in which Boseman told her he didn’t mind the long hours of work that came with his acting career but “the other stuff exhausts me,” referring to the celebrity aspect of it all. Davis said that she makes sure to separate herself as an artist from her public persona.

She also spoke about the late actor during an interview with The New York Times in September. She said she's even more in awe of Boseman now that she realized how much he was suffering while they were filming Ma Rainey. "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.”