On Wednesday, the world premiere for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever took place.
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The film’s director Ryan Coogler and cast members such as Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Michaela Coel and more were present and reflected on the highly-anticipated and how they we’re able to push forward with filming after visiting the grave of Chadwick Boseman.
“We were all able to be there, those of us who were starting the projects the first days. We were able to do that to give love and feel his spirit and stand there with him before we did one frame of anything,” Bassett explained on the purple carpet to The Hollywood Reporter. “That was such an important grounding for us because, as you can imagine, emotion was all over the place. People are on the verge—his [onscreen] sister, his love, his general, all of us. I’m getting goosebumps now. We were on the verge of tears, of ‘How are we going to do this, go on without him?’”
Added Gurira, “We did with our full hearts, our full effort and really seeking to honor our brother. We can just hope and pray that it’s received that way and that people have an experience with it as a result of that.
Ryan Coogler, who came adorned in an all-white fit with a gold chain sporting Boseman’s face in it also shared how Boseman’s spirit was still present throughout the ideation and rewrite of the film.
“Chadwick had people who were in his life creatively, as well as family, and we were in close contact with those people, very close specifically with his wife, Simone, and his creative partner Logan Coles,” Coogler explained to THR.
He concluded, “We were staying tapped in with them as much as we could, and it gave us the space to create, but obviously we were seeking out their opinion all the time. We’re looking forward to sharing it with everybody.”
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