August Wilson’s play ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ has been adapted into a film for Netflix and features the likes of Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman.
Netflix has released the first trailer of their upcoming film offering a glimpse of Davis playing the late ‘Mother of Jazz’ Ma Rainey and Boseman playing ‘Levee’, a wildly talented trumpet player looking for his own stardom. The film is a new take on the critically acclaimed play by Wilson and has Denzel Washington set as the producer. Washington and Davis are no strangers to Wilson’s work considering they acted alongside each other in 2016 for their film Fences.
Being that Boseman died this past August, there is significant Oscar buzz around Boseman’s performance in this film with many critics seeing this being a potential Best Supporting Actor nomination.
In an interview with the New York Times, Davis reflected on Boseman’s performance and praising him as an artist and human being. “An actor of Chadwick’s status usually comes on and it’s their ego who comes on before them: This is what they want, this is what they’re not going to do. That was absolutely, 150 percent off the table with Chadwick. He could completely discard whatever ego he had, whatever vanity he had, and welcome Levee in.”
Directed by George C. Wolfe (Lackawanna Blues) this new film will also feature the talents of Glynn Turman, Coleman Domingo, Taylour Paige, Susan Brown and Michael Potts.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is coming to Netflix on December 18.
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