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Viola Davis admits she judged Chadwick Boseman while filming his last film, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
In an interview with The Times, the actress, 59, divulged that no one on set knew that the late actor was sick. Boseman died on August 28, 2020, at the age of 43. He succumbed to a four-year battle with colon cancer. Davis recalled seeing Boseman’s wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, and the makeup artist rubbing his back and playing soulful music on set.
“There was a part of me that was a little judgmental — why do you need all that?” Viola Davis said.
“Little did I know that they were doing it because he was dying,” she added.
Viola Davis says she doesn't think Chadwick Boseman lived a "tragic life": Read more
Chadwick Boseman's last film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, chronicled the life of blues singer Ma Rainey and his recording sessions in 1920s Chicago. It was released three months after his demise. He played Levee Green in the film, for which he nabbed a posthumous Oscar nomination.
Back in December 2020, Viola Davis spoke with Yahoo Entertainment about how she felt when she learned of Boseman's demise, adding that she "broke down."
“Lord knows we all would’ve wanted him to live another 50 years. We all want longevity,” she said.
“But I can’t see his life tragically at all. … Because I felt like he was always living in the moment, squeezing out every bit of life,” the EGOT winner continued. “What it makes me think is, it’s not the quantity, it’s the quality.”
Davis continued,
“What I hold onto with Chad is that he lived his life his way. I would say his professional life as absolutely paralleled his personal life, that’s my guess, in terms of how he lived with the utmost integrity.”
Viola Davis also sat down for an interview with The Guardian shortly after Boseman's passing, where she said he "is going to be remembered as a hero."
"There's a part of the public that's gonna associate that with Black Panther; I do not," she said. "I associate that with his authenticity, especially in the midst of a profession that sometimes can suck that out of you."
She added that Boseman "was a person who lived a life bigger than themselves," adding,
"I think that his legacy, his body of work, his integrity, is going to influence generations upon generations to come."
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The Woman King actress paid tribute to Boseman back in 2021 when she accepted the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress for her role in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. At the time, she thanked the "beautiful Chadwick Boseman" in her speech.
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