The 'Get On Up' director reflects on his final conversation with the 'Black Panther' actor in the wake of his shocking death, realizing that the star tried to say goodbye.
- Sep 1, 2020
AceShowbiz - Filmmaker Tate Taylor realises Chadwick Boseman was trying to say goodbye in their final phone conversation by telling his "Get On Up" director he loved him.
The tragic actor succumbed to colon cancer on Friday (28Aug20), aged 43, and Taylor was just as shocked as the rest of the world when he heard the news, because although Boseman had mentioned he was sick during their last catch-up at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, he didn't expand on what ailed him.
In a lengthy article published on Variety.com, Taylor recalled, "This past March I checked on my friend, as we did, asking if he was in South Carolina with his family riding out 2020. He told me he was sick and not comfortable traveling...
"Chadwick told me he loved me that day and that was the last time we spoke. He never shared his illness with me. I now realize he was telling me goodbye the only way he could."
Elsewhere in the tribute, Taylor takes readers back to the early days of his friendship with Boseman, after teaming up for the James Brown biopic Get On Up, and he reveals the "Black Panther" star truly embodied the spirit of the Godfather of Soul both on and off camera during production.
Boseman even came to believe that Brown himself was giving him directions from beyond the grave. "In the beginning, he would ask for many takes because he had just discovered something else that he needed to try," Taylor shared.
"In all seriousness, Chadwick explained to me that when he was acting in a scene, the real James Brown would talk to him from heaven."
Taylor ended up having to limit Boseman's requests for more takes to just one each day, giving the "perfectionist" a red plastic card to cash in whenever he felt the need to redo a shot.
"We used that card for the rest of the shoot and once a day, usually at the end, he would present it to me," the filmmaker explained. "It wasn't because he thought he could do better. It was because we were having so much fun together. How I wish I could go to him now and give him the red card and say 'Please do it again.' "
Concluding his touching tribute, Taylor wrote, "Chadwick Boseman wasn't just a talented actor, dancer, writer or superhero, he was a beautiful, majestic creature put on this earth to help people. He changed everyone he ever met or worked with. I am one of those fortunate people. I'll be talking to Chadwick just like Mr. Brown did with him because as James Brown always said, 'You can't stop the funk.' " "I miss and love you my friend."
Taylor's remarks come on the heels of "Black Panther" director Ryan Coogler's heartfelt salute while Spike Lee, who shot his recent drama "Da 5 Bloods" with Boseman, honoured the late actor on Saturday as "a great brother" and a "trooper" for never once letting the harsh conditions of the Thailand shoot last year (19) affect his work - even as he secretly struggled through chemotherapy.
