Yahoo News Colman Domingo Says Late Chadwick Boseman “Worked Like a Tornado” While Filming ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’
Colman Domingo is remembering his late co-star Chadwick Boseman.
While appearing in the new episode of Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? on Max, released on Friday, the Oscar-nominated actor reflected on acting with the late Boseman in 2020’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
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“Chad came in with so much energy and passion,” Domingo said. “Because he was so sick, he worked like a tornado.”
“He had so much fun and so much passion for doing the work,” Domingo said. “He would say, ‘Hey Colman, I’m ready to dance with you today.’ We’d just start rehearsing and working on our lines together. And then we tried to outshine each other when we’re learning our instruments. It was really a great spar fest. So I didn’t know he was sick at all, to be honest.”
Boseman shockingly died in 2020 at the age of 43 after a private four-year battle with colon cancer, which his family revealed when he died. The Black Panther star had never spoken publicly about his diagnosis.
When asked who the late actor would have become had he lived longer, Domingo explained, “I thought that he was always so much more than just an actor because of the way he talked.” Domingo also described Boseman as being “very spiritual.”
“And the way he talked about caring for human beings or challenging norms and systems and with his work, I feel he’s even more of an activist, to be honest, and an educator. I feel like he would continue to do what he was doing. I know that he would probably be producing more and making sure that, you know, the work exists.”
Earlier this year, Domingo paid tribute to his late co-star with his 2024 Met Gala look. While walking the carpet, Domingo told told E! that he was paying tribute to Boseman and the late André Leon Talley with his look: “They both wore capes when they were at the Met. Everything I do, I feel like it’s gotta be for the culture. It’s gotta be more than just for me.”
Boseman received a posthumous Golden Globe award and Oscar nomination for his Ma Rainey’s performance. While accepting his Golden Globe, Boseman’s wife Simone Ledward Boseman said, “He would say something beautiful, something inspiring, something that would amplify that little voice that tells you you can, that tells you to keep going, that calls you back to what you were meant to be doing at this moment in history.”
After Boseman’s death, his other Ma Rainey co-star Viola Davis paid tribute to the actor writing: “Chadwick, no words to express my devastation of losing you. Your talent, your spirit, your heart, your authenticity. It was an honor working beside you, getting to know you. Rest well prince. May flights of angels sing thee to thy heavenly rest. I love you.”
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