“The African experience was allowed to exist aspirationally.”
Marvel’s Black Panther did a fine job at break records when it came to the film’s box fice success, Academy Award nominations and wins and positive responses from fans and critics alike. While we patiently wait for more news and updates surrounding the film’s sequel, star Lupita Nyong’o has opened up about the film’s first release and how much a pleasure it was to be part the Ryan Coogler directed film.
“In Black Panther, I felt that the African experience was allowed to exist aspirationally,” the actress told Vanity Fair. “I think it’s more common in America to hear the struggle black people than it is to hear the success. It’s more a sensation to have a headline about a struggle, you know? ‘Lupita Shunned by People for Her Hair Texture.’ The struggle through having dark skin is clickbait. So when Black Panther came along…it was so refreshing to work on an African narrative that did not lead with the struggle being African.”
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Elsewhere in her feature, Lupita explained how she trusted Ryan’s vision before she was even allowed to see the script for the film. “When I choose projects, I want to have faith that as an artist it will speak to a time when it is needed as much as it speaks to me at the time that I make it,” she said, detailing how Marvel won’t release the script before the actress or actor is signed on.
“I read the script for the first time six weeks before we started shooting.”
Ryan Coogler has already begun writing Black Panther 2 and the film is set to hit theatres May 2022.