‘Wire’ actor Clarke Peters breaks down over Chadwick Boseman
Clark Peters said he had no idea that Boseman was ill while on set with him filming 'Da 5 Bloods'
Veteran actor Clarke Peters shared memories of his time with the late actor Chadwick Boseman on Good Morning Britain. The two worked together for the first time on the Spike Lee movie Da 5 Bloods which premiered on Netflix earlier this year.
Peters, who also starred on all five seasons of the classic HBO show The Wire as Det. Lester Freamon, met Boseman on the set of the film and tells the GMB hosts that he regrets not being more “altruistic” in his view of the actor.
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“Hindsight teaches us a lot of things,” Peters told co-hosts Ranvir Singh and Sean Fletcher on Monday. “I was really excited to work with him. “But when my wife asked what Chadwick was like, I said I thought he was a little bit precious.
“She said why and I said because he’s surrounded by people who were fawning over him.”
Peters got choked up because he said he now realizes that the people Boseman had on set with him were caring for the actor in the wake of the colon cancer diagnosis his family says he received in 2016.
“He had a Chinese practitioner who was massaging his back when he walked off set, he had a make-up lady massaging his feet, his girlfriend was there holding his hand,” Peters said.
Peters wondered if Boseman had become a spoiled Hollywood star.
“I was thinking that maybe the Black Panther thing went to his head,” he said.
“But now I regret even having those thoughts because they were really looking after him.”
Peters said he had no idea that Boseman was ill on set in Thailand, particularly considering the conditions during Da 5 Bloods shoot.
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“Listen, we were in 104-degree weather, running with equipment up to 40 pounds on our backs, going through these scenes. That young man did all of that while ill. I’m sorry,” he said.
Peters was overcome with emotion and started crying, apologizing to the hosts.
Lee spoke to the crowd at his annual Michael Jackson birthday celebration in Brooklyn on Saturday, the day after the world found out that Boseman had passed.
“We filmed Da 5 Bloods in Thailand, and it was hot, jungles, mountains, and Chadwick was there with us all the way. I never, ever suspected that anything was wrong. No one knew he was going through treatment, chemotherapy,” Lee told the crowd after dedicating Jackson’s “Gone Too Soon,” to Boseman.
“A trouper. He never complained. He was there every single minute, in the moment, and his performance is testament to what he put into that role and all his roles.”
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Boseman’s wife and family announced through his official social media channels that the actor had passed last Friday. They revealed his colon cancer diagnosis for the first time. Boseman made 7 movies while undergoing “countless” surgeries and chemotherapy, the post said.
Peters further reflected: “I’m not sure that we’ve lost. I think that he served his purpose. But we lost a very sweet soul, we lost a fine actor, we lost a man of integrity. But what we’ve gained is that he put a lot of younger people of color on track. If everyone has a purpose in life he certainly played the role of hero in many, many ways.”
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