UB Film Spotlight: Viola Davis & Denzel Washington Talk ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’

Tensions and temperatures rise over the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago as a band of musicians await trailblazing performer, the legendary “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey, played by Academy Award® winner Viola Davis star in the new film “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Coming to Netflix tomorrow December 18th.

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 horn player Levee, played by the late great Chadwick Boseman. Who’s character 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.

Adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom celebrates the transformative power of the blues and the artists who refuse to let society’s prejudices dictate their worth.

Directed by George C. Wolfe and adapted for the screen by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, the film is produced by Fences Oscar® nominees Denzel Washington and Todd Black. Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, Michael Potts, Taylour Paige and Dusan Brown co-star alongside Grammy® winner Branford Marsalis’ score.

“The blues helps you get out of bed in the morning. You get up knowing you ain’t alone. There’s something else in the world. Something’s been added by that song.”

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ s Powerhouse Ensemble Cast:
• Academy Award winner Viola Davis as Ma Rainey
• Chadwick Boseman as Levee
• Emmy Award winner Glynn Turman as Toledo
• Tony and Olivier Award nominee Colman Domingo as Cutler
• Michael Potts as Slow Drag
• Taylour Paige as Dussie Mae
• Dusan Brown as Sylvester

This is not a biopic. While inspired by real life figure Ma Rainey, the film and the play are fiction.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom producer Denzel Washington previously starred in, produced and directed the 2016 film adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fences. Washington and Viola Davis reprised their roles from the 2010 revival of the play that earned both actors Tony Awards. The film adaptation was written by Wilson and appeared on numerous 2016 top film lists, ultimately winning Davis the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ Academy Award and Golden Globe. The film also received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (August Wilson) and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Denzel Washington). Davis has a long connection to August Wilson – she was also nominated for a Tony Award for her Broadway debut in Seven Guitars. And she won a Tony Award for her role as Tanya in Wilson’s King Hedley.

As the characters in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom sermonize, philosophize, talk shit, confront and condemn, their cascading words become a symphonic composition which
celebrates the pain, joy and wonder of being black, human and alive.

As much as Ma Rainey the historical figure was a trailblazer, by 1927, the world was starting to leave her behind. Bessie Smith, Ma’s protege and alleged former lover, had eclipsed her in record sales and popularity; and each week The Duke Ellington Orchestra could be heard on the radio, live from The Cotton Club — the modernity of Ellington’s harmonics, the polar opposite of Ma Rainey and her jug band blues.

In the film, Levee, Ma’s coronet player, who has his own musical sound and vision of the future, sees his time in Chicago as a chance to break free of the strictures which have kept black performers/artists from having the creative careers they deserve. Will Levee have a future full of promise and possibility, or will the demons of his past and ours as a country keep him and us from moving forward, unencumbered and free?

The film explores the consequences of the Great Migration, particularly what was lost when Black people left the rural south for the urban north.

Much of the story takes place during one hot summer afternoon. Rainey has come north to Chicago to record music and has brought with her four musicians. One of them is Levee, a very ambitious young man who is determined to stake his claim on the music industry.

Rainey is the only real person Wilson ever wrote into one of his plays and the only LGBTQ character. Wilson’s work overall was said to have been heavily influenced by the blues.

With the exception of Ma Rainey’s original songs, the film’s music was created by renowned saxophonist, composer, bandleader, music historian and executive music producer Branford Marsalis.

Check out the star of the film Viola Davis speak on her role and the amazing life of Ma Rainey. Denzel Washington discuses black history and the blues.