Coogler greatly influenced by Godfather
Director of Black Panther also credits Planet Earth as inspiration behind film
CANNES, FRANCE— Filmmaker Ryan Coogler knew it was an offer he couldn’t refuse, as they say in The Godfather, when he was offered the chance to direct the Marvel Comics superhero movie Black Panther.
Good decision, since the film has amassed more than $1.3billion (U.S.) worldwide since its February release and become a worldwide phenomenon with its Afrofuturist Black empowerment message. A sequel is already planned.
But The Godfather actually played a direct role in helping Coogler, 31, bring to the big screen a comic-book superhero he’d adored since he was a kid, growing up in Oakland, Calif.
In a conversation Thursday with interviewer Elvis Mitchell at the Cannes Film Festival, Coogler revealed The Godfather
— Francis Ford Coppola’s beloved 1972 classic starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino — was one of his main sources of inspiration when he was preparing to make Black Panther, which stars Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan. He said he considers Black
Panther to be “kind of like a crime movie,” because of its narrative thread of a gang of thieves trying to steal precious substance Vibranium from the hidden African kingdom of Wakanda. Mobsters certainly figure into The Godfather, and so does the father-son dynamic of passing the torch to another generation, another influence on the Black Panther story.
Coogler said he was afraid to acknowledge The Godfather connection when he was making Black Panther because, “I was worried about people thinking I was aiming too high.”
Other movies/TV shows that have influenced Coogler, who has also made Fruitvale Station and Creed, include Boyz N the Hood, Malcolm X, City of God, Y Tu Mama Tambien and the BBC’s Planet Earth series, the latter for geographical inspiration about Africa. He also cited Casino Royale — the 2006 movie that was Daniel Craig’s debut as James Bond — as a big influence on him as a filmmaker generally; it’s his favourite of the 007 movies, a series he says he loves.
But his main spark for making Black Panther goes right back to his Oakland childhood, when he went into his local comic book store looking for something different, and the store owner put him on to Marvel’s Black hero.
“I got tired of reading comic books that were only about white people,” Coogler said.
Coogler received a standing ovation when he arrived to the packed Bunuel Theatre for his talk, part of the new RendezVous sessions with artists at Cannes. Right in the front row, also applauding, was Toronto musician The Weeknd, one of the hip-hop/R&B stars on the Black Panther soundtrack.