‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’: First Look At Chadwick Boseman In Netflix’s Jazzy August Wilson Adaptation

Barely a month has passed since the untimely passing of Chadwick Boseman, and stories continue to emerge about the heroic figure he was in life. With so much left that we’ll never get to see from Boseman, his final movie role is coming up in Netflix‘s adaptation of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and the first images have arrived for the blues era drama.

The newly-released images feature Boseman as Levee, an ambitious blues trumpeter in 1920s Chicago, who squares off against Viola Davis as the legendary “Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey during a heated recording session. The film is based on August Wilson’s play, and co-stars Glynn Turman, Michael Potts, and Colman Domingo. It was the second in Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle” of plays on different aspects of black life in different decades, and the only one not set there.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is directed by two-time Tony Award-winning playwright George C. Wolfe, and hits Netflix on December 18th.

 

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.