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Spike Lee recalls his experience with Chadwick Boseman on the set of ‘Da 5 Bloods’

The Oscar winning director casted Boseman for his last Netflix movie and revealed the acclaimed actor never discussed his cancer diagnosis.


Daniel Neira
Daniel Neira - Los Angeles
Senior WriterLos Angeles
OCTOBER 8, 2020 3:24 PM EDT

Spike Lee confessed he was shocked at the sudden death of Chadwick Boseman, especially because he never thought the actor was battling cancer on the set of his latest Netflix movie ‘Da 5 Bloods.’

The Oscar winning director casted the actor for his last movie and revealed Boseman never discussed his diagnosis, “he did not look well, but my mind never took that he had cancer,” referring to scenes in the movie that were shot in Thailand, “It was 100 degrees every day. It was also at that time the worst air pollution in the world.”

Lee went on to describe his feelings of respect towards the late actor, “I understand why Chadwick didn’t tell me because he didn’t want me to take it easy,” adding that “If i had known, I wouldn’t have made him do the stuff. And I respect him for that.”

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The director also shared his experience rewatching the movie after the tragic news, commenting that “it plays totally different,” recalling one of the scenes in the film where there wasn’t any natural light, “That was God sending heavenly light on Chadwick.“

Clarke Peters is one of the co-star that also shared the behind-the-scenes experience of the movie, regretting having misjudged Chadwick after spending time with him on set because he was surrounded “by people who are fawning over him,” adding that he initially thought that “maybe the Black Panther thing went to his head,‘“ however they were “really looking out for him.”