In August 2020, the entire world was shocked with Chadwick Boseman’s death. The protagonist of Black Panther he had fought for years, and in secret, against cancer that finally took his life. Obviously, Disney’s plans changed dramatically, and that is that the company had Chadwick Boseman for the sequel to the aforementioned film. The result, Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverhit theaters a few months ago, but how was the reaction at Disney after these events?
In an interview for Deadline, Nate Moore, Vice President of Production and Development at Marvel Studios, opened up about what happened internally. While the world mourned the death of Boseman, at the corporate level things got out of hand. The future of the character and his films were uncertain.
“It was like…sorry for my French, but:'[email protected], what happened?’ And at first, I remember well, I was literally on the treadmill, I got the call and I was like, ‘Wait, what happened?’ Then we got another phone call. Your mind processes it as an idea, not as an emotional experience.”
According to information from director Ryan Coogler (in charge of both films of Black Panther), the script for the sequel was already in some progress at the time. But at the end of the day, the entire Disney and Marvel team faced two losses: the actor who starred in his films, and his friend and co-worker. According to Moore, the latter was the most painful to take.
“Then you start thinking about, ‘Oh, maybe that’s why X, Y, and Z happened.’ And then you process it emotionally, and you’re like, ‘What do we do now, for starters, ‘should we do this movie?’ How do you respond to the loss of, not just your star, but your friend who you did two movies with? , without letting your emotions get the better of you?” he added.
As mentioned above, the option of a recast never crossed the minds of executives, not even Moore’s. It was not about continuing to exploit a character just for financial gain, so the choice was to continue the legacy of the character and what the first film represented to millions of people around the world.
“The idea of recasting never crossed my mind. I couldn’t imagine saying to Letitia (Wright), or Angela (Bassett) or Lupita (Nyong’o): ‘Hi, here’s the new T’Challa)’, because we are people, we have to do something we believe in, and where we can emotionally situate ourselves”.
On the other hand, Moore, Kevin Feige, and everyone involved in the making of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, received the support of Disney at all times. The existence of a sequel was not something that remained fixed. There were moments in which it was doubted on continuing with the film. Fortunately, the decision and how the script was adapted without the presence of Chadwick Boseman, were consulted with Simone BosemannChadwick’s widow.
“At Disney they never told us: ‘You have to make this movie, so work it out.’ They told us: “Well, if you don’t have to do it… don’t do it. If you don’t want to make the film, don’t make it to satisfy us. We cleared everything up with Simone every step of the way, because we didn’t want to do something the family didn’t agree with. Even so, we allowed the characters to grieve and experience the same thing as the audience, we hope it was in a hopefully cathartic way,” she concluded.
Do you think that Marvel and Disney resolved the death of Chadwick Boseman in the best possible way? Black Panther: Wakanda Forever It will arrive on Disney Plus on February 1, 2023.
Juan Jose Cruz I am one of those who always defended Robert Pattinson as Batman and can see the same movie in the theater up to 7 times. My guilty pleasure? Low budget horror movie.