Viola Davis admitted she was too quick to judge ailing actor Chadwick Boseman on the set of their film “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
In an interview with The Times, the EGOT winner admitted she was critical of the extra attention Boseman received on the set.
Davis said she wouldn’t have been so judgmental if she’d known Boseman was dying of cancer.
During breaks in filming, Davis saw Boseman’s girlfriend and make-up artist rubbing his back and playing meditative music. She said she was a bit critical of the pampering he received.
“There was a part of me that was a little judgmental — why do you need all that? Little did I know that they were doing it because he was dying,” she said.
Boseman died of colon cancer at age 43 on August 28, 2020, about a year after the film wrapped.
Davis, 59, felt guilt-ridden because she judged him so harshly and she believed that he was getting special attention on the set.
Boseman battled colon cancer for 4 years and continued to work until he succumbed to the disease.
