By Laying down the rhythm and blues is the new trailer for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the Viola Davis-led biopic on the titular 1920’s trailblazer whose work as a blues artist set the mold for a new step in the music’s evolution. Black Bottom also stars the late Chadwick Boseman as an upstart trumpet player making his moves in the biz.
The Roaring ’20s period piece comes from Tony Award-winning theater and film director George C Wolfe, premiering to select theaters in November before its Netflix rollout on December 18th.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is based on the mis-’80s play of the same name from August Wilson, making the film a particularly interesting endeavor from Wolfe, a stage and screen artist. The trailer alone exudes a keen-eyed production (look at those fedoras!), so Wolfe’s decision to work in film in this adaptation might immediately pay off.
No matter how excellent Black Bottom may turn out, it’ll no doubt be tinged with the melancholy of it being Chadwick Boseman’s final feature appearance. Boseman passed away in late August, only 43, from colon cancer.
Still, the show must go on, with fingers crossed that Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom serves as a fitting finale for the beloved star when it hits theaters and streams later this year.