THE IMPORTANT ONE

In November 2017, with Black Panther about to hit cinemas, Empire spoke to cast and crew about what was shaping up to be a very special film

THE DIRECTOR

Danai Gurira [Okoye]: “I got a chance to sit down with Ryan [Coogler] and I was a big admirer of him and his work. I was really proud of him. I didn’t even know him and I’d say, ‘I’m so proud of him, of what he’s accomplished.’ The stories he was telling. The fact that he was giving storytelling new hype.”

Daniel Kaluuya [W’kabi]: “He’s just so personable, man, he just really takes you in, sees people and takes time for everyone. Especially, when he has everything on his plate and everything on his shoulders.”

THE STORY

Kaluuya: “Ryan can really just get to the heart of a story, which is one of the hardest things to do, especially in the midst of a massive Marvel world. What this story’s about, what this tribe is about, what is the dynamic.”

Gurira: “It was really exciting, his vision for the story. Being that I am a black woman, an African woman living in the West, living in the world as a whole, I have the same thirst, the same deep need to see these stories told.” Angela Bassett [Queen Ramonda]:

“Ryan’s also the writer, so he’s really invested from that perspective. He knows the story, he knows the intention.”

THE IMPACT

Bassett: “I’m proud to be a part of it. A long time coming, but it’s here now. People would ask me, ‘What roles do you want to play?’ And I would say, in some interviews, ‘I want to play a queen.’ Maybe part of me hoped it would be possible, but I’d never seen that. That imagery of a Ramonda, of a queen of a nation.”

Gurira: “You can feel when a need is being met. When you’re on something that is hitting on something that you’ve yearned, and many others around you have yearned to see, for a really long time. We grew up with stories not having our faces, or our names. And so the idea of having this type of story told, and being a part of it, you feel that.” TERRI WHITE