Ryan Coogler Discusses a Comfortable T’Challa in ‘Black Panther’
Last night, a sneak peek at Marvel’s Black Panther aired during the college football championship game right after a performance from Kendrick Lamar. Which made sense as fans learned just days ago that Lamar is curating and producing the soundtrack for the film.
Now, Ryan Coogler is telling fans a little bit about what to expect from Black Panther. From T’Challa and Erik Killmonger to Wakanda, this film is going to be a different take on superheroes than we’ve seen before.
‘The film will take place basically immediately after Civil War. In many ways, he’s the same guy. What I think is more important, and I was talking to my brother Keenan about it, who works with me, you get to see T’Challa at almost from a ground level. You get to see him and how he is around the people who he loves, how he is when he’s comfortable.’
This will be a stark contrast from the T’Challa we saw for the majority of Civil War, and rightfully so. He was a broken man, hell-bent on revenge, but not so much so that he was blind to the truth. At one point, after he sees what seeking vengeance truly does, he assures Steve Rogers that his friend (Bucky) and T’Challa’s father were both victims.
‘In Civil War, he was outside of Wakanda. He was in a place that he didn’t want to be and his father gets killed. The whole film, he’s on a mission. He’s a man on a mission. He’s tortured; he’s of few words. I think that that was something that made him appealing in that film.’
Now, we won’t be seeing an entirely new character, as Coogler said, we’ll just be seeing a different side of him. He’s at home, he’s in a place that’s familiar with people who love him. This allows fans to really get a good look at who he is at the heart of himself, and what he’s going to do as he takes on the responsibility of ruling a nation.
‘In this film, it’s the same guy, but you’re seeing all of the layers pulled back. The film’s from his perspective and he’s surrounded by people who he loves and cares for. It’s just a much more personal perspective on him. You see him go through the journey of taking on the greatest responsibility that a person can have, the responsibility of leading a country. You see him go through the full weight of that in the film.’
Black Panther hits theaters on February 16th.
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‘…but I knew him’
