Netflix premieres movie about Columbus native, âThe Mother of Bluesâ Ma Rainey Ma Rainey s Black Bottom (Source: Netflix) By Alex Jones | December 18, 2020 at 9:32 AM EST - Updated December 18 at 9:33 AM
COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - A long anticipated Netflix film that focuses on Ma Rainey, a Columbus native who grew up to become The Mother of Blues.
âMa Raineyâs Black Bottom,â which stars Viola Davis as Rainey and Chadwick Boseman in his final role, is based on August Wilsonâs award-winning play of the same name.
The play is a fictionalized portrayal of the recording of Raineyâs song of the same name and part of Wilsonâs Pittsburgh Cycle, a series of ten plays that tell the stories of African Americans throughout each decade of the 1900s.
Four decades ago, Glynn Turman watched August Wilson s
Ma Rainey s Black Bottom on Broadway at the Cort Theatre. I was thinking, man, I sure would love to do Levee, he tells
Esquire down the phone in early December.
He never did get to play Levee, the mercurial trumpeter at the heart of the play: a story of a jazz band recording with the legendary (and eponymous) mother of the blues. The late Chadwick Boseman beat him to it for a film adaptation that s coming to Netflix this week. Instead, Turman is the band s cosmically minded elder statesman and pianist Toledo, who he played during a stage run in 2016.
Ma Rainey s Black Bottom
Chadwick Boseman sings one last time in Ma Rainey s Black Bottom
Photo by David Lee/Netflix Chadwick Boseman in
Photo by David Lee/Netflix Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Michael Potts, and Colman Domingo in
Ma Rainey s Black Bottom.
Photo by David Lee/Netflix It’s been four years since Denzel Washington and Viola Davis starred in
Fences, the movie adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. At the time, it seemed like a great tribute to an acclaimed playwright, as well as a fantastic showcase for its actors. Now, with the release of Wilson’s
Travel back in time to 1927, right here, right now!
17th December 2020
Itâs Viola Davisâs greatest performance yet. Itâs the film everyoneâs talking about. Itâs a movie
NME hailed as âa fitting swansong for Chadwick Boseman, who gives a beautifully nuanced performance in a story that deftly explores racial inequality in the music industry.â Itâs one hot, sweaty, music-filled journey into 1920s Chicago, where the blues is booming but the players are struggling against problems and attitudes that feel all-too relevant today.
Ma Raineyâs Black Bottom, which premieres on Netflix on December 18 (Friday), is the must-watch movie of the Christmas holidays.