Watch Chadwick Boseman in Netflix’s First ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ Trailer

    Netflix has unveiled the first trailer for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the forthcoming adaptation of August Wilson’s 1982 play about the exploitation of Black recording artists by white producers as seen through the eyes of Chicago blues titan Ma Rainey. The film was directed by Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe and stars Viola Davis, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, Michael Potts, and Chadwick Boseman, in a posthumous performance that also marks his final on-screen role.

    Netflix’s official plot synopsis reads: “Late to the session, the fearless, fiery Ma engages in a battle of wills with her white manager and producer over control of her music. As the band waits in the studio’s claustrophobic rehearsal room, ambitious trumpeter Levee — who has an eye for Ma’s girlfriend and is determined to stake his own claim on the music industry — spurs his fellow musicians into an eruption of stories revealing truths that will forever change the course of their lives.”

    Production on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom wrapped in early August, just weeks before Boseman would pass away of colon cancer at age 43.

    Check out the trailer below.

    Konstantinos Pappis
    Konstantinos Pappis
    Konstantinos Pappis is a writer, journalist, and music editor at Our Culture. His work has also appeared in Pitchfork, GIGsoup, and other publications. He currently lives in Athens, Greece.

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