Everyone's fierce yet loveable spear-wielding action heroine, Danai Gurira returns as Okoye in Marvel's 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' which releases worldwide today.
The film directed by Ryan Coogler is the sequel to the billion-dollar Oscar-nominated 'Black Panther' which saw the late Chadwick Boseman in the lead role of King T'Challa. With the lead actor's sudden passing, the crown and Black Panther title will now pass on to Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri, the sister of the slain King.
Ahead of the release of the highly anticipated film, ETimes sat down for a chat with Danai who opened up about the team's efforts to honour Chadwick's legacy through the film, her character dealing with the death of her king twice; the flak Marvel has been facing from fans for having 'too many' female superheroes and more... Excerpts:
When you watched the film for the first time at the premiere, what was the atmosphere like in the room?
It was beautiful. Everyone was there to celebrate and be a part of this moment. Someone said earlier that no one knew what they would receive. Of course, we had the tragic loss of our leader, Chadwick Boseman, so the whole room was on this journey. Everyone was taking this journey together, to process that and embrace the narrative. It was actually a beautiful spirit.
The early reviews are phenomenal, how do you think Ryan Coogler upheld the legacy of T'Challa and Chadwick Boseman?
With Ryan, the very core of what he did, to come back in and make this movie, was rooted in feeling 'that's what Chadwick would want'. When he called me and said, 'We're doing this and I'm very clear this is what Chadwick would've wanted,' I really felt that, that was at the heart of everything. We all entered into the story from that understanding.
It was felt on-set as well. We had a drummer who Chadwick had brought on in the first movie. He was always drumming and Chad would drum with him. The drummer's name is Jabbari. You'll see him in the film. When we were training, and when I was training, he would be there, bringing a connection to Chadwick that we needed. He was available and so present for everybody.
That was such an anchoring about who Chadwick was and we all wanted to lean on that and honour him through the story. I think Ryan started it off exactly right and we continued with that.
This is the second time that Okoye is faced with the death of her King T'Challa. She lost him in 'Infinity War' got him back in 'Endgame' and lost him again in 'Wakanda Forever'. Since she is so loyal to the King and crown, where does that leave her emotionally?
The emotions are very raw with the deep loss happening in the kingdom. There's a massive shift that has happened as a result of that. Okoye's job is to anchor the nation, keep it moving and keep it safe and secure. This is a nation that is also the most advanced nation on the planet that everyone knows about and focuses on in a different way. So, I don't know if she has time to deal with her own grief because she has to take care of everybody.
I don't know anything about that (trolls), but I think that is insane and ludicrous. It doesn't even make sense. I would love to hear the argument as to why there is anything to hate on about the idea of women being represented in heroic roles. Have we not seen enough men represented in heroic roles in our time? I would love for such persons to elaborate and explain to me what their issue is with seeing women being heroic as we know they are, every minute of the day, in every corner of the planet.
