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Chadwick Boseman Chadwick Boseman’s death on August 28 was more than a shock; it was an unexpected gut punch. He played larger than life figures, including American history legends and a superhero. Like most people, I had no idea that Boseman was sick, especially since he seemed so vigorous on screen. That he would succumb to cancer at such a young age seems impossible. It’s strange how much we are affected by the passing of people we have never met. My wife told me that I practically sat in mourning for Philip Seymour Hoffman following his 2014 death. When James Gandolfini died in 2013, Alex Pappedemas wrote in Grantland that “We’ll always have Tony Soprano, but we’ll never really know how much else we lost.” That’s what hurts most about artists who leave us way too young. We will never know what more they could have done. They are unfinished lives, which feels especially true in the case of Boseman. He was only 43, and had only been a star for seven years. We were just starting to see his gifts. There were so many more movies to be made, perhaps an Oscar or two to be won. Boseman had done some producing and directed short films. Like his hero Denzel Washington, he may have directed feature films someday. Now that’s all gone. Boseman had mostly worked in theater and television when he was cast as Jackie Robinson in 42. Hollywood had kicked around this project since the 90s when at one point Spike Lee was going to direct and Washington was going to star. Robinson’s stature had continued to grow every year, increasing the pressure on the filmmakers to get this right. Now they were entrusting the lead role to a relative unknown. It was a huge risk that paid off handsomely. Boseman embodied Robinson’s fierce will and pride in who he was. Robinson never backed away from a challenge despite long odds to succeed. Watching Boseman, you got the sense that he was like that too. Still, Boseman played Jackie as a flesh-and-blood man, not some distant icon. He captured Robinson’s vulnerability and even an occasional doubt. This further illustrated Robinson’s struggle and sacrifice. Of course Boseman was just getting started playing historical figures. To prepare for his role as James Brown in Get on Up, Boseman spent months learning Brown’s dance moves, which he carried off seamlessly. He even did some of the singing. Three years later he was a young Thurgood Marshall in Marshall. As he did with Robinson before, Boseman imbued these performances with conviction and determination. You could see his characters’ strengths in Boseman’s eyes. In just a couple of years, Boseman’s reputation had grown so much that when Marvel Studios cast him as T’Challa, the Black Panther, I doubt anyone was surprised. The Avengers cast had long since become household names, but you could argue that Boseman had a tougher task than any of them. T’Challa was not only a superhero but also the new leader of his nation, Wakanda. Boseman had to be convincing as both a warrior and a statesman, and he most certainly was. He made T’Challa a three-dimensional human being. Yes, Boseman carried over the strength and fortitude he had playing Robinson, Brown and Marshall. But he also conveyed a dash of insecurity when T’Challa almost loses everything. Perhaps his most effective moments are in the scene were when the Panther discovers that many assumptions and things his father told him were wrong. Boseman lets you see that T’Challa’s physical wounds hurt but not as much as his soul does in trying to handle these new realities. The Black Panther was also a very physically demanding role. Boseman made the action scenes look easy even though we know they weren't. Just as he learned his dance moves so well for Get on Up, he did the same with African martial arts for the Black Panther. All of that hard work showed up on screen. One can only imagine the physical toll that must have taken on him, especially after what we know now. There had to be a mental toll as well when he travelled and made media appearances to promote the film. As Black Panther became a phenomenon, Boseman became a real-life icon. He clearly understood what the film meant in terms of African-American representation and cultural pride. Boseman took it all in stride and with a sense of humor, which he demonstrated on talk shows and "Saturday Night Live.” He never made the attention about him, but didn’t shrink from it either. How sad but also fitting that one of his last roles was in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods (he also completed work on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, currently scheduled to be released this year). Boseman’s character, Stormin’ Norman, was not a superhero but might as well have been. Stormin’ Norman exists in flashbacks and the other characters’ memories. To his former unit, Norman was a Jackie Robinson, a long gone figure whose heroism loomed over their lives. Boseman does not appear on screen much, but his presence and impact fill every frame. Now we know that the courage Boseman so often exhibited on-screen he also had in real life. He was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2016 and was undergoing treatments for the rest of his days. So all of the physical work he did in Black Panther and other Avengers films, all the scenes he shot in the Thailand heat for Da Five Bloods was done while battling a deadly illness. Yet he kept his condition a secret. He did not even tell Spike Lee or Black Panther director Ryan Coogler. We may find out more about why he made this decision or we may never find out at all. But I’d venture that he wanted the focus to stay on his performances and on the films themselves, not on his health issues. He wanted to keep performing at the highest level until he could not continue anymore. 42 has a key scene where Jackie Robinson, while playing first base, is spiked by an opponent, something that happened frequently. As his teammates gather around him one of them tells the pitcher to hit the next batter in retaliation. Robinson, while still in agony, says no and tells the pitcher “Just get him out.” He was not going to let his pain interfere with the job that needed to be done. Boseman did not just portray that mindset, he embodied it. No matter what else is going on, just get the job done. Just get him out. Boseman sure did. Adam Spector September 1, 2020 Contact us: |
