The late actor knew he had a terminal illness during the filming of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – and turned in an astonishing performance
One of the most powerful moments in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom comes when Levee, the firebrand trumpeter played by the late Chadwick Boseman, gets into an argument with his bandmate about religion. The setting is a hot recording studio in 20s Chicago, where the blues singer Ma Rainey (played by Viola Davis) and her band have come to play some songs.
The trombonist, Cutler, has just told a story about a black reverend who was persecuted by white people in Mississippi. “What I wants to know is, if he a man of God, where the hell was God when all of this was going on?” asks Levee. “Why wasn’t God looking out for him?” Levee becomes more and more worked up, declaring that “God can kiss my ass!” and getting into a fight with Cutler, pulling a knife on him, then finally stabbing into the air, tears streaked down his face, challenging God at the top of his voice: “Come on, what you scared of? Turn your back on me! Come on! Coward, motherfucker!”
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