(Update/Trailer) “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” With Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis Premieres Friday
UPDATE
Watch “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Trailer:
‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ official description:
Tensions and temperatures rise over the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago as a band of musicians awaits trailblazing performer, the legendary “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey (Davis). Late to the session, the fearless, fiery Ma engages in a battle of wills with her white manager and producer over control of her music. As the band waits in the studio’s claustrophobic rehearsal room, ambitious trumpeter Levee (Boseman) — who has an eye for Ma’s girlfriend and is determined to stake his own claim on the music industry — spurs his fellow musicians into an eruption of stories revealing truths that will forever change the course of their lives.
Published October 2, 2020
‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,’ the final film of Chadwick Boseman’s (42, Get On Up, Black Panther) incandescent career has released its first images of the late star.
Directed by George C. Wolfe (Lackawanna Blues, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks), the adaptation of August Wilson’s 1982 stage play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom stars Viola Davis (Widows, Fences) in the title role, with the “Black Panther” actor starring as a horn player named Levee in blues singer Ma Rainey’s band. The film centers on a recording session in Chicago by the “Mother of the Blues” as the vehicle for larger discussions on race and society. The film is scheduled to bow on Netflix on Dec. 18.
The supporting cast includes Emmy Award Winner Glynn Turman (Mr.Mercedes, Sextuplets, How To Get Away With Murder, In Treatment), Olivier Award Nominee Colman Domingo (If Beale Street Could Talk), and Michael Potts (Show Me A Hero, True Detective). The upcoming film was produced by Todd Black, Denzel Washington, and Dany Wolf, and the screenwriter is Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Branford Marsalis is the composer.
Boseman struggled through filming, Davis, revealed in a NY Times interview, but she didn’t know it was because he was going through a silent battle with colon cancer.
The actor died on August 28 at age 43 after a four-year fight.
The official description: Tensions and temperatures rise over the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago as a band of musicians awaits trailblazing performer, the legendary “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey (Davis). Late to the session, the fearless, fiery Ma engages in a battle of wills with her white manager and producer over control of her music. As the band waits in the studio’s claustrophobic rehearsal room, ambitious trumpeter Levee (Boseman) — who has an eye for Ma’s girlfriend and is determined to stake his own claim on the music industry — spurs his fellow musicians into an eruption of stories revealing truths that will forever change the course of their lives.
Check out more images below:
