Netflix will campaign for Chadwick Boseman as lead actor this awards season

Netflix will campaign for Chadwick Boseman as lead actor for his performance in his final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Netflix will be campaigning to get late actor Chadwick Boseman nominated as a lead actor during this next awards season, according to Variety.

The streamer officially announced they’ll be putting their weight behind Boseman’s performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, hoping to earn the Black Panther star posthumous honors.

Boseman passed away on August 28th from colon cancer at 43-years-old. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was among the final films he made.

Road to gold: Netflix has announced it will be campaigning for Chadwick Boseman as a lead actor this awards season following his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

The film is an adaptation of a 1982 play by August Wilson, part of his 10-part Century Cycle of plays documenting the Black experience in the 20th-century.

Set in Chicago 1927, Viola Davis stars as Ma Rainey, a fiery singer known as the ‘Mother of the Blues.’

Boseman plays Levee, an ambitious trumpeter aiming to launch himself with his own updated versions of Ma Rainey’s songs.

Davis – who won an Oscar for her performance in 2016’s Fences, also an adaptation of Wilson – will also be campaigning for lead actress.

RIP: Boseman passed away on August 28th from colon cancer at 43-years-old. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom was among the final films he made. He's seen at the 2019 Academy Awards above

RIP: Boseman passed away on August 28th from colon cancer at 43-years-old. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was among the final films he made. He’s seen at the 2019 Academy Awards above

Leading lady: Viola Davis - who won an Oscar for her performance in 2016's Fences, also an adaptation of Wilson - will also be campaigning for lead actress

Leading lady: Viola Davis – who won an Oscar for her performance in 2016’s Fences, also an adaptation of Wilson – will also be campaigning for lead actress

The rest of the cast, which includes Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, Michael Potts and Taylour Paige, will campaign in supporting categories.

If the Black-lead cast manages more than two acting nods, they’ll make history as only film to achieve that since 1985’s The Color Purple.

At the time of filming, Boseman was coming off the massive success of Avengers: Endgame and Black Panther. 

Director George C. Wolfe said Boseman ‘put his entire being into the part,’ even though he was gravely ill during production. Davis described Boseman as unusually egoless. 

Behind the camera:On set energy: Director George C. Wolfe said Boseman 'put his entire being into the part,' even though he was sick at the time of shooting

Behind the camera:On set energy: Director George C. Wolfe said Boseman ‘put his entire being into the part,’ even though he was sick at the time of shooting

‘Not to compete with Chadwick’s mother but Chadwick is my baby,’ said Davis, who played Boseman’s mother in the James Brown biopic Get on Up. ‘Chadwick was just an artist. That’s just who he was.’

‘He loved it. He demanded it. He demanded it in every single way,’ added Davis, who like most wasn’t aware of Boseman’s illness during the shoot.

‘For someone so young it was incredible to watch that level of not mistaking your presence for the event.’

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starts streaming on December 18th. It will also screen in select theaters in November.

Performance of a lifetime: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom starts streaming on December 18th. It will also screen in select theaters in November

Performance of a lifetime: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starts streaming on December 18th. It will also screen in select theaters in November