During an interview on 'Live with Kelly and Ryan', the 'This Is Us' star claims it is important to include the late 'Black Panther' actor in the documentary due to its racial and social justice subjects
- Nov 20, 2020
AceShowbiz - "This Is Us" star Susan Kelechi Watson has honoured her longtime friend Chadwick Boseman with a special dedication in a new documentary.
The actress is the executive producer of "Between the World and Me", based on author and activist Ta-Nehesi Coates' bestselling National Book Award-winning work of the same name - and she felt it important to include the tragic "Black Panther" actor in the project because its subjects of racial and social justice were so close to his heart.
"It was important to us," Susan shared on "Live with Kelly and Ryan", of her student pal from historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., getting emotional as she admitted it's the first time she has addressed Chadwick's tragic death from stage IV colon cancer in August.
"Forgive me," she continued. "I haven't spoken about Chad really publicly. It was important for us to do that (dedication) because of how close we all were. I love him, love him, love him dearly. We wanted him to be a part of it (project) as well and we found a way to do that."
"It was just the natural thing to dedicate it to him."
Coates' book, which is a memoir and self-help manual with historical context, was published a year after African-American men like Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice were killed at the hands of police, and is written in the form of a letter to the writer's 15-year-old son.
Former Howard University student Prince Jones was another victim of white police brutality, and his story is told in the documentary, which also features appearances by original cast members from a 2018 theatre staging of the book, including Angela Bassett, and Denzel Washington's wife Pauletta.
Mahershala Ali, Janet Mock, Wendell Pierce, Mj Rodriguez, Yara Shahidi, Jharrel Jerome, Denzel Washington, Courtney B. Vance, and Phylicia Rashad, who taught both Watson and Boseman acting at the college, appear in the TV version of the show.
"Between The World and Me", which is dedicated to the memories of both Boseman and Jones, debuts at 8 pm ET and PT on HBO on November 21.
