- [Crystal] So Black Panther has been a little
over two years in the making
from initial conception to here we are
the week before release.
I feel like at this point it's really
become a cultural movement
so at what point in the process
did you finally exhale or are you not there yet?
- Not there yet.
We just finished making the film
and we still only showed it to a few audiences so far.
So I'm still interested to see how people receive it
as far as the general public goes.
I still feel like I'm one foot in front of the other
as far as going through this process again
closer to release.
- [Crystal] What was your original pitch to Kevin Feige
because I know you guys met early,
early in the process two and a half years ago.
- I didn't have a straight pitch for Kevin.
No, I met with Nate Moore first
and really what it was more of
was like once I sat down with Kevin
it was more like me trying to figure out
how they see the character fittin' into the MCU,
what they were thinking they wanted out of the film.
'Cause that was important for me to know
as somebody who I'll be collaborating with
and bringing to fruition
and they had been living with it for longer than I had
in terms of the idea of actually making a movie
out of this character.
So it wasn't like a pitch, like this happens,
then this happens, then that happens.
It was much more of are y'all comfortable
with me looking at these themes?
Are these ideas that you're excited about?
And they were.
Kevin was.
He was like, "Man, let's get into it."
That was kinda when we decided to move forward.
Some of the themes we were interested in exploring
were themes of identity,
the idea of what it means to be African,
how that differs depending on
what part of the world you call home
and what Wakanda's relationship would be like with the world
if it was real, like if we threw Wakanda into the world
as it exists today, how could it function.
Also, the idea of my brother's keeper.
Am I my brother's keeper was another theme that was at play.
And the theme of tradition versus innovation.
All those themes were themes
that I was interested in exploring
and themes that Kevin and Marvel were excited
to explore as well.
- [Crystal] I feel every creator who's been
at the helm of Black Panther,
whether it's Christopher Priest or Ta-Nehisi Coates,
they have interpreted him a bit differently.
And so I'm curious about your own interpretation.
Did you see him more superhero than king,
king than superhero, or how did you strike that balance?
- I definitely saw him as more king than superhero.
I think that's more interesting, frankly.
'Cause we got so many superhero movies.
And that's the thing, in my opinion,
the superhero-dom of superhero movies
is not why you go to the movies,
that's kind of a given, that's kind of a constant.
You know what I mean?
The superhero's gonna punch somebody in the face,
somebody's gonna blow up.
Lord knows, our film has a lot of that.
Our film's got a lot of action in it.
But I think the parts that you remember are the things
that only these specific characters can do.
A lot of times that doesn't involve
the superhero nature of it.
I remember when I saw Iron Man I remembered the stuff
that Robert Downey brought to Iron Man.
I mean, I love the scenes with the suit flying
and all that stuff, but what I really went home rememberin'
was Downey and some of his comments and interactions
and the journey that he went on as a weapons dealer
to someone that would protect people from weapons.
And we wanted to bring that to this.
We wanted to make sure that we looked at
what makes T'Challa different from other superheroes
'cause they're gonna be other superhero movies comin' up.
The things that make him different are he's a African king.
His first responsibility is to his people.
That was what we leaned into.
- [Crystal] And speaking of the character work
'cause this film is very character-focused, which I enjoyed,
Michael B. Jordan is so good as Eric Killmonger.
I think a thing that is often maybe forgotten
in a lot of these superhero movies is the villain
and is the fact that your protagonist
is only as strong as your villain or as your antagonist
and what Michael and what you bring to this character
is just so terrific and nuanced
and some might say even heartbreaking.
I'm curious, Michael's a good friend of yours
and you guys have a great working relationship
so what did he bring to the role of Killmonger?
- I mean, Mike brought Mike.
Mike is incredibly talented, experienced actor.
He's very charismatic.
I think he treats everything in a way that's very uncanny.
Also what he brings is he's very competitive
and he brings an insane work ethic and consistency
that's really great to have on a set.
You know, this role is first for him.
So I think that just the difference
in what he was having to do just brought an energy
that made him almost like an exposed nerve.
You could feel that, that new energy
as he was channeling all his things.
And there's an honesty there to his performances too
that resonates with audiences.
It feels real.
With Mike, you can feel like you watchin' life unfold
as opposed to watching the movie.
I think all those things he brought were very helpful.
Yeah, you right, with comic book films a lot of times
the villain can make or break
whether or not the character
has to go on a memorable journey or not.
- [Crystal] Yeah, Killmonger is so good in this.
- You liked it?
- [Crystal] I loved him.
- Aw, that's cool.
- [Crystal] The whole audience did as well.
- Aw, that's cool.
- [Crystal] I'm curious because he's also about
to embark on his own journey as a first-time film director.
He's doing an adaptation of The Stars Beneath Our Feet.
Did you have any advice for him?
Did he come to you before taking on the project?
- Mike and I talk a lot.
He hasn't come to me like how to direct it.
It's not one of those things.
We worked on a lot of projects together
so when I'm directing he's been right there,
nine times outta 10 on the other side of it,
so I don't think I'm really the guy he's gonna ask
for advice.
He might be better off gettin' it from somebody else
who can give him a different perspective
because he's pretty much been there
for all the times I've directed.
But I'm sure once he gets down the road, we'll talk.
I'll always be there for him.
- [Crystal] I think that in this film
what I appreciated so much as a woman
its that T'Challa really surrounds himself
with powerful women and that is so much a part
of the storytelling of Nakia and Shuri and his mother.
Was that in the script from the very beginning?
- Actually yeah all of those characters, all the women
in the story, they were always there from draft one.
Ramonda, Shuri, Okoye, and Nakia.
Early drafts was actually more.
We had to trim it down so that the film was achievable.
It's consistent in the comics.
If you look at the runs, women take on more and more
of a front sheet with each iteration.
You look at Ta-Nehisi's run, they dominate the narrative
and I think they should.
They so interesting.
In many ways, the women of Wakanda
are the most dynamic part of the country,
the most interesting in terms of comparin' it
to other superhero films and other movies
about fictional societies.
I think that their dynamic is just so interesting.
It was rich ground to mine for me and Joe Robert Cole
in terms of writing the script.
- [Crystal] Shuri specifically,
she was definitely the crowd-pleaser.
I feel like it was so revolutionary
because it's not often you see a young woman
who's the comedic foil
to the superhero, to this hero of the story.
She's so funny and she's so endearing.
How did you find that right balance in their relationship
between Shuri and T'Challa?
Because I also hear that maybe Donald and Stephen Glover
played a small part in it?
- Just casting.
And that relationship is one that's so unique.
It was a relationship that we put a pin in,
Joe Robert Cole and I, of bein' a relationship
that you don't see in movies often.
You see movies about brothers all the time.
There's less movies about women in general,
but as a result, there's less movies about sisters,
but they're there.
But in terms of the brother/sister dynamic in a movie,
it's not a lot of movies that deal with that.
Especially, that's the specific relationship
that you attach your emotions to.
So it was an opportunity for us as a movie
to have a brother/sister relationship be the relationship
that you remember, the relationship that you track.
If you watch the film, their relationship,
in many ways, is probably the most important,
in terms of tracking the story.
For us, T'Challa is a character who's wealthy,
he's smart, he's good-lookin', he's serious,
'cause he has to be.
He's got all this weight on his shoulders.
So it was great to have a character who could humanize him
and who could make him laugh
and poke fun at him, constantly.
And it's natural, it's not comin' from a forced place.
'Cause that's what younger siblings do.
And that contrasted with her being flat-out brilliant
and kinda representin' the youth
that grows up with technology
and knows how to manipulate it in ways
that people who are older than them could never even dream.
That's kinda what she represented.
We let the humor kinda come from that.
But the big thing we needed was somebody,
we needed a actress who could do that for Chad,
who could open Chad up, just naturally.
When we were doin' chemistry reads,
Letitia was the one who would make Chad smile
and make Chad crack-up.
So that was a big part of it.
- [Crystal] I love their dynamic so much.
- Right on.
- [Crystal] It also made me wanna see her
with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner.
I would love to see them.
- Put the geniuses together, yeah.
- [Crystal] But I would also love to see her out-genius them
because I think she would.
You have also surrounded yourself, like T'Challa,
with a lot of brilliant women in the making of this film.
You had Rachel Morrison,
who herself has made history at the Oscars this year,
and Ruth E. Carter and Hannah Beachler.
How invaluable was their input?
- We had a lot of incredible department heads
and creative collaborators for us who were women.
In the case of Rachel and Hannah,
I worked with them before, very closely.
They're incredible artists
and havin' them on this film meant everything.
Hannah, in terms of just doin' tremendous research
and buildin' out what the country is,
and us makin' our artistic decisions
based off of that work and research.
With Rachel, just havin' somebody who I could count on.
She's kinda like a rock.
She is whip-smart, is able to make decisions
from an emotional perspective and a storytelling perspective
'cause she has such a solid understanding
of the technical things.
She's somebody who you can go to and say,
"I want this scene to feel like this
"because that's what the characters are going through."
(snaps)
Got it.
And she can rock and roll from there
and she's able to work a set
where people feel comfortable coming forward
with their own ideas and with their thoughts.
Ruth Carter is a legend.
I was fortunate enough to work with her
after watching her make so many incredible costumes,
do such great storytelling through her craft
on films that kinda shaped how I view cinema.
So I think it was fantastic.
And even working with Debbie Berman,
who was one of our picture editors.
Lisa Satriano, who was our A.D.
Women had their hands all over the film.
- [Crystal] And then finally,
because we talked to Chadwick this morning.
We actually had Chadwick and Michael in the studio.
Chadwick, specifically, he said that he told you
that you should direct a Star Wars movie,
which made me think,
what would a Star Wars movie look like in your hands?
What would a Ryan Coogler Star Wars movie look like?
- I cannot answer that.
Right now, my mind is so focused on Black Panther
and Wakanda that that's really all I'm equipped
to give answers about, to be honest.
That's kind of Chad to say that.
- [Crystal] He said he told you
so I feel like you've already had this conversation.
- To be honest, man, I'm tryin' to remember him say that.
I remember Chad looking at a part of the film
and saying, "Yo, this is like Star Wars."
I remember him sayin' somethin' like that.
'Cause we had a plane flyin' overhead.
But I don't know about what he's sayin' there.
I'm not callin' Chad a liar, but I'm just sayin'
I don't even remember him sayin' that to me.
- [Crystal] Well you know there's a lot in development
so maybe you'll get your shot.
And I think everybody would wanna see it.
- That's kind of you to say.
- [Crystal] Of course, thank you so much.
- Thank you too.
- [Crystal] I appreciate how much love Oakland gets
in this movie and that Oakland kind of gets
to be part of the Black Panther legacy.
(laughs)
Which I think for you growing up in Oakland
and discovering Black Panther in Oakland
must've been a surreal experience.
- For sure, for sure.
It definitely was.
I think it was something where it was natural
for the story and I was happy to be able to do it.
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