She’s busy promoting her horror movie Antebellum that will be released on video on demand on Friday.
And during a conversation with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show Tuesday night, Janelle Monae recalled the last time she met the late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman.
‘It was at an Oscars party and he tapped me on my shoulder. I’ll never forget it,’ the actress, 34, shared. ‘He tapped me and he said, ‘Let’s have this dance.’ And we danced for a good three, four minutes, smiling.’
I’ll never forget it’: During an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Janelle Monae recalled her ‘last dance’ with the late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman
No-one knew that Boseman had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016 and had undergone treatment while continuing to pursue his acting career.
Having kept his illness private, the world was shocked when it was announced on August 28 that he had succumbed to the disease. He was 43.
Recalling her last dance with him, Monae told Colbert: ‘I just remember that moment and I will always hold that dear to me and I will always try to live in the present because I saw him living in the present.’
Memory: ‘It was at an Oscars party and he tapped me on my shoulder,’ she shared. ‘He tapped me and he said, ‘Let’s have this dance.’ And we danced for a good three, four minutes, smiling’
Legacy: ‘I just remember that moment and I will always hold that dear to me and I will always try to live in the present because I saw him living in the present,’ Monae, 34, told Colbert
Monae and Boseman had first met in Atlanta when he was filming the Marvel superhero movie and she was recording her album Dirty Computer.
They were introduced by Monae’s friend Lupita Nyong’o who starred with Boseman in Black Panther.
The Hidden Figures star said she had invited the pair to dinner and during the evening, she had played some of her new album to them and Boseman had been encouraging.
‘We ate, we listened to music,’ she added. ‘The encouragement I got from him, seeing him smile, seeing him dance, you could feel that his spirit was one of one wanting to give, give people the feeling of love, the feeling of hope.’
‘He still took that time to tell me that he was proud, he was excited, he would dance with me and made me feel like, yeah, I can release this project,’ she explained.
Gone too soon: Boseman, pictured at the Oscarsin March 2018, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016 but kept it secret. He succumbed to the disease on August 28 at the age of 43
Earlier this week, Monae had headlined a socially-distanced outdoor screening of her film Antebellum, that had originally been scheduled to be released in theatres in April and had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She and several of her co-stars attended the event that took the form of a drive-in screening on the rooftop of a parking structure at The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles.
The movie, dubbed a psychological thriller by distributor Lionsgate, co-stars Joining Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons and Jena Malone and is written, produced and directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz.
New release: Monae is busy promoting her movie Antebellum which will be available via video on demand this Friday. On Sunday night, she headlined an outdoor screening in LA
Movie night: The event took the form of a drive-in screening on the rooftop of a parking structure at The Grove shopping center in LA due to COVID-19 restrictions
In Antebellum, Monae plays a modern-day woman transported back in time to a pre-Civil War plantation in the South.
The film follows her as she attempts to escape from the slavery she finds herself in and get back to her own time period, bringing other slaves with her.
At Sunday night’s screening, Monae told Variety that the movie ‘reminds us that the past is not the past.’
She explained: ‘The past is not even dead and I think the film is very timely and does a great job, an exceptional job of linking and connecting the dots of the past, the present and what could be our future.’
The actress added: ‘I’m very honored to stand here and represent for Black women who have been dismantling white supremacy and systemic racism for centuries.’
Streaming release: Antebellum had originally been scheduled to open in theatres back in April but was postponed due to the pandemic. It will be available as video on demand from Friday