Viola Davis recently discussed her role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and shared some words of praise for her co-star in the film, the late Chadwick Boseman.
“A lot of times when Black actors are nominated for any award or get any accolades or get a spotlight, it is always with a caveat that it is only happening because we’re Black. Or it is only happening because such and such and such and such. It’s never deserved,” she told Entertainment Tonight.
She said that certainly was not true with Boseman, who has racked up a number of posthumous award nominations this season: the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and more.
“Chadwick Boseman deserves it,” Davis said. “This is someone who did the work, who learned the trumpet. I mean, those long three, four-page monologues, are you kidding me?”
“He did the work, and he did an extraordinary job,” she went on.
Boseman died last August at the age of 43 from cancer.
Davis and Boseman’s film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, is based on the August Wilson play of the same name. It centres on an afternoon recording session for the titular blues singer in 1920s Chicago. It made its debut on Netflix in December 2020.