As Ryan Coogler gears up to release his new horror film “Sinners,” he’s looking back at his 2018 blockbuster hit “Black Panther.” And what he revealed about working with the late Chadwick Boseman will warm your heart and make you laugh at the same time.
In a recent interview on “The Breakfast Club,” Coogler talked at length about working on that film and highlighted the special relationship he and fellow “Panther” actor and “Sinners” star Michael B. Jordan had with Boseman. He detailed how “Da 5 Bloods” star was a “fully baked man from the South” and described him as “an old school man’s man” who showed them patience and set an example during filming.
When it came to Boseman’s work ethic, Coogler shared a funny moment that happened between the late actor and how he “freaked out” Disney executives one day on set.
“He was talking in an African accent. 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,” Coogler said. “I was like, ‘Don’t be freaked out. He’s working, man. He don’t turn it off until we wrap.’ ”
He later added of Boseman:
He was the kind of teacher who you never knew you was getting a lesson when he taught. 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.
The “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” star, who died in 2020 of colon cancer, was also recently honored by his old school in South Carolina. They renamed the Southwood Academy of the Arts Fine Arts Center to the Chadwick Boseman Fine Arts Center. They also unveiled a bust and held a dedication ceremony, according to Fox Carolina News, that was attended by Boseman’s parents and friends.