Spike Lee Says Chadwick Boseman Didn't Look Well While Shooting 'Da 5 Bloods'

Filmmaker Spike Lee opened up about his working relationship with Chadwick Boseman and revealed that the late actor “did not look well” while filming his latest movie “Da 5 Bloods.”

Speaking in an interview with Variety, the esteemed director shared some specific details about the time he spent with the “Black Panther” star and how he never got to know that Boseman was battling cancer while they were working together.

When asked if he saw any signs that Boseman was really in pain during the shoots, Lee said that he did not know that the “Avengers: Endgame” star was “sick.” He admitted that Boseman looked uncomfortable while filming but never thought that he was battling cancer at the time.

“I didn’t know Chad was sick. He did not look well, but my mind never took he had cancer. It was a strenuous shoot,” Variety quoted Lee, as saying.

Boseman died on Aug. 28 in his Los Angeles home after a four-year battle with colon cancer. He was 43.

In the same interview, the “BlacKkKlansman” helmer also explained how the team managed to shoot in extreme temperatures and why Boseman never told him or anyone about his condition.

“I mean, we all didn’t get to Vietnam until the end of the movie at Ho Chi Minh City. But that other stuff, the jungle stuff, was shot in Thailand. It was 100 degrees every day. It was also at that time the worst air pollution in the world. I understand why Chadwick didn’t tell me because he didn’t want me to take it easy. If I had known, I wouldn’t have made him do the stuff. And I respect him for that,” Lee said.

Lee also recalled how he found out about the actor’s death. The filmmaker said that he slept early that night and refused to believe all the reports that blew up his phone when he got up.

“That night, for some reason, I went to bed early. And the fact that I went to bed early, I woke up early. It must have been I was tired. I went to open my phone, and my phone – the whole thing had been blowing up. I turned it off. I was in shock,” Lee said.

“Da 5 Bloods” is considered to be a frontrunner in the Best Picture category at next year’s Academy Awards. The movie currently holds a score of 92% on review site Rotten Tomatoes.