Sinners director Ryan Coogler recently spoke about his former collaborator, the late Chadwick Boseman, and the dedication the Black Panther star applied to his superhero role. During an appearance on The Breakfast Show, promoting his upcoming vampire flick, which has earned an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker expressed his gratitude for crossing paths with the beloved star before his death in 2020 at 43. Coogler explained that even now, his impact remains with the director and the star of his new film, Michael B. Jordan, who played opposite Boseman as one of the best MCU villains, Kilmonger. In fact, he left such a mark that both discussed what Sinners could've looked like with Boseman on board.
“He changed my life. He was the kind of teacher who you never knew you was getting a lesson when he taught,” Coogler explained. “It was all by example, and what he gave me and Michael was patience. He moved at an old-school pace, and he took his time. He was always early. He was that type of dude. And Mike will tell you this, I told him, man, I said, ‘Hey bro, what would Chad do in this role? If he had this role, what would he do?’ Because Chad never broke action.”
His dedication to the character of T'Challa seemed unending, with Coogler recalling how invested he was in the role when the Black Panther got his own solo film in 2018. “He was talking in an African accent,” Coogler recalled. “Disney execs came to see us on Panther. It was week two, and they pulled up, and it was the T’Challa accent, and they were freaked out. I was like, ‘Don’t be freaked out. He’s working, man. He don’t turn it off until we wrap.'”
Coogler paid his respects to Boseman in perhaps the grandest gesture someone could with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the sequel to Black Panther that provided a movie project in mourning over its lead star. Now Letitia Wright has taken the role of Black Panther, the next time we'll see her will be Avengers: Doomsday, following her casting announcement along with everyone else confirmed so far. After that, plans are in place for a third Black Panther film, which will see Denzel Washington enter the MCU in an unspecified role. Get the details on every other Marvel movie project in the pipeline here.
