'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom': Did Viola Davis sing her songs in film and Chadwick Boseman learn to play trumpet?
'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', the Netflix movie that depicts the life of blues singer Ma Rainey and her band features a number of Ma Rainey's songs with Viola Davis playing the lead, and Chadwick Boseman playing the role of a trumpet player who also composes music. In fact, the film centers on the conflict between Davis' Ma Rainey and Boseman's Levee about whose way of recording the song is better. We see Levee, an ambitious musician impress the studio's white manager and the producer with his words and music.
This gives him a leg up when he attempts to change the way Ma Rainey does her music because he then has someone powerful in his corner. Now, we see the conflict between the horn player and the singer start off pretty early on when Levee flirts with Dussie, who happens to be Ma Rainey's girlfriend, and right after, we also see how he ends up walking to the front of the stage, next to Ma Rainey and force the spotlight on himself with his improvised trumpet sequence. It is a war for the spotlight as both Ma Rainey and Levee do their best to catch the attention of their audiences.
This scene and the one where we see Boseman as Levee rehearse with other members of Ma Rainey's band makes us wonder, did Viola Davis sing the songs, and did Boseman really learn to play the trumpet? The answer to that is that Davis did sing one of the songs called 'Those Dogs Of Mine'. Speaking of the opening song in the opening scene where a long queue of people lined up to see Ma Rainey's performance in a tent, to USA Today, Davis had said, "That tent scene was probably the most unbelievable experience in my entire career.” She added, “To walk up to that tent with all those haystacks, and those extras dressed in period costumes with their popcorn, screaming at the top of their lungs, the band on the stage, and then me performing – it was time travel." The other songs were sung by soul singer Maxayn Lewis.
And speaking of Boseman in his last performing role as Levee, his fellow cast members revealed how the man had taken to learning the trumpet in real life to help him play his part as Levee. From Davis to Denzel Washington, everyone also spoke of Boseman's ability to transform into his character and it is in this interview that all of them reveal how he would be seen trying his hand at playing the instrument. This has also pushed the others, like Michael Potts who plays Slow Drag in the film, to get on with the program himself and practice his music.
While Ma Rainey is based on a real-life character, this is not true for Levee. He is based on August Wilson's play 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' and the inspiration behind his character was reportedly a mix of many artists who had worked with Ma Rainey in real life.
'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' can be streamed on Netflix from December 18.