via Spike Lee/Instagram
Like everyone in the entertainment community, acting legend Denzel Washington recently reflected on his relationship with the late Chadwick Boseman, who passed away at the age of 43-years-old following a four-year-long battle with colon cancer.
Just says after fellow Hollywood giant Samuel L. Jackson discussed the last time he saw the late, great Black Panther star, Denzel also chimed in with his feelings about Boseman, making sure to highlight that he was a “gentle soul”.
During a virtual conversation with Rain Man director Barry Levinson at the Toronto Film Festival on Thursday, Washington recalled growing emotional at the purple carpet premiere for the Ryan Coogler-directed Black Panther. The anticipated Marvel Studios movie, the first to feature a Black lead and a predominantly Black cast, was also the first solo for Boseman’s Wakandan warrior T’Challa following the character’s breakout role in Captain America: Civil War.
“He didn’t get cheated. We did. I pray for his poor wife and his family. They got cheated, but he lived a full life,” Washington said (via THR) of “gentle soul” Boseman, who died at age 43 in August following a private four-year battle with colon cancer.
Reflecting on the Black Panther premiere, Washington added, “I went backstage and I saw Chad and I saw Ryan Coogler, and then I watched the movie and I remember shedding a tear. Because I thought, man, these young guys are gone. Like they’d taken over.” [via ComicBook]
Washington and Boseman actually had a history together, as Washington once famously paid for Boseman to attend a prestigious theater program at Oxford University. In fact, during a tribute to Denzel at the AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards, Boseman actually said that without Washington, there would be no Black Panther.
Rest in greatest power, Chadwick, we’ll all miss you. Wakanda Forever.