Danai Gurira is opening up about her favorite, “fulfilling” parts of filming the long-awaited sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Speaking to The Root during a press junket for the forthcoming feature, she shared that while filming certain moments were “very painful,” (of course we’re not going to tell which ones those were specifically, lest we serve you spoilers an get a major side-eye from Marvel) they were fulfilling at the same time, thanks to her amazing cast, crew, and inner-knowing that she left it all on the floor each day.
“Even the most painful parts to film were, they were very fulfilling at the same time. Just to be with my cohorts, my fellow actors and just giving it our all,” Gurira explained. “That really is the most fulfilling feeling you can have—even if it’s something you’re still shooting that’s very painful for the character or difficult or hard to imagine your character going through but having to walk through it for her. Whatever that is, the journey with your director, your fellow actors, locking into something, finding something that feels rich, and real, and alive. And even if it’s taking all you’ve got and then some, you know you left it out there. And that feeling is kind of the feeling that is the most fulfilling to go home with. And because I’m with such an amazing cast of women and men, and such an amazing director—those experiences were the most deeply cherished ones.”
Gurira reprises her role as Dora Milaje general Okoye alongside Angela Bassett’s Queen Ramonda, Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, and Winston Duke’s M’Bakue in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Tickets for the film are available so I suggest you snag your seat not now, but RIGHT NOW.