The late Chadwick Boseman received a nod for male actor in a leading role for his role as Levee, a trumpet and cornet player in Rainey’s band, but that character is fictional.
Boseman received four SAG nominations, tying Jamie Foxx (2005) and Maggie Smith (2013) for the most nods in one year in the 27 year history of the SAG Awards. Boseman is nominated for individual honors and as part of nominated ensembles for both
Ma Rainey s Black Bottom and Da 5 Bloods.
In each of the last two years, actors won SAG Awards in lead categories for their portrayals of music legends. Last year, Renée Zellweger won female actor in a leading role for playing Judy Garland in
The Fiasco of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Armond White
Ma Rainey s Black Bottom
Viola Davis looks frightening in the film version of August Wilson’s 1984 play
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Her monstrous eye shadow, shark-jawed false teeth (recalling Richard Kiel chomping at James Bond in
The Spy Who Loved Me), baggy bodysuit, and obviously dubbed singing prove that no one involved with this film feels any emotional connection with its historical subject.
Ma Rainey (born Gertrude Pridgett in Columbus, Ga., in 1886) was known as “the Mother of the blues” for originating blues art and humor. It was her century-old achievement that inspired Wilson’s ambition to write a series of ten plays, each set in a different decade of the 20th century, affirming black American vernacular. Now, in a film directed by George C. Wolfe and produced by Denzel Washington, Rainey’s bawdy honesty, and Wilson’s grand concept, have been hijacked to serve the bitter agenda of t
David Lee
The director of
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, an adaptation of August Wilson’s 1982 play that’s streaming now on Netflix, is discussing Hollywood’s seemingly reinvigorated appetite for adapting theater evident in recent productions like
The Boys in the Band, The Prom, Cats, and even his own latest but doesn’t believe it’s anything new.
“I think what is true is that Hollywood is filled with closeted theater folk,” he says. “And then periodically some of those people who are obsessed end up in positions of authority and they say, ‘Yes, we re doing it.’ That s what it s all about, and when you come through a period where a number of those people are making decisions, it feels like you re inside of a trend. But I think it s something much simpler than that: there s just a bunch of theater queens in L.A.”
Who Is Ma Rainey? How the Mother of the Blues Became an Icon Author: Latifah Muhammad Updated: 9:00 AM MST December 18, 2020
Ma Rainey’s title as the “mother of the blues” is an ode to her unremitted genius in transforming the genre despite a relatively short recording career. Now streaming on Netflix,
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, starring Viola Davis as the brazen blues legend and Chadwick Boseman in his final film role, has brought new attention to Rainey’s mystifying story.
Adapted from August Wilson’s Broadway play of the same name, the film explores an intense 1927 Chicago recording session between Rainey and her band members, with Davis delivering an unapologetic portrayal of the singer.
By Latifah Muhammad Donaldson Collection/Getty Images
Ma Rainey’s title as the “mother of the blues” is an ode to her unremitted genius in transforming the genre despite a relatively short recording career. Now streaming on Netflix,
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, starring Viola Davis as the brazen blues legend and Chadwick Boseman in his final film role, has brought new attention to Rainey’s mystifying story.
Adapted from August Wilson’s Broadway play of the same name, the film explores an intense 1927 Chicago recording session between Rainey and her band members, with Davis delivering an unapologetic portrayal of the singer.