Colman Domingo has shared a deeply moving memory of working alongside the late Chadwick Boseman on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, describing a moment on set that left both actors in tears, though Domingo had no idea at the time that his co-star was fighting a terminal illness.
Speaking at San Francisco’s Frameline Film Festival, where he received Variety’s Creative Conscience Award, Domingo, 56, reflected on the 2020 film that marked the last screen appearance of Boseman’s career before his death from colon cancer at the age of 43.
The moment he described occurred during a scene in which Boseman’s character Levee Green, a trumpeter, rails against God.
“It’s a moment that I feel like will stay with all of us. I started asking him the question over and over again. And then he exploded with this rage about God,” Domingo recalled.
“We went into this fight scene, and then George C. Wolfe called cut, and then we just grabbed each other and burst into tears. I didn’t know he was ill, and we didn’t know what was going on, but we cried and held each other.”
Boseman had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016 but kept his illness almost entirely private.
Those closest to him in Hollywood, including Domingo, were unaware he was sick until his death in August 2020.
Looking back on the experience, Domingo described the work they made together as something profound and, in retrospect, something he believes he was meant to be part of.
“I think we created something so beautiful together, and I know that there were some other dynamics of his illness that it was meaningful to be there with him as he was taking this journey. Sometimes you don’t know why you’re being sent somewhere, being used, but hopefully you feel like you’re being used as a vessel to be there not only to create art, but also to be a human to somebody.”
Boseman received a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for the role, with the film also winning Oscars for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
Viola Davis received a Best Actress nomination for her portrayal of Ma Rainey.
Domingo has also spoken of Boseman as a mentor figure who, when the two first met in 2018, told others in the industry to keep an eye on Domingo’s career.
“I really feel like he’s been lifting people like me and Michael B. Jordan up from the other side. I do believe I have a little, beautiful angel in my friend Chadwick,” Domingo said.
