The filming of Black Panther 2 was a roller coaster of blockades, emotions, complications, and adventure. The project which went into production in 2018 and was halted and resumed multiple times along the way finally wrapped up filming by late March 2022. As such, its expected release date was delayed by several months as well. One of the unexpected hurdles that had been encountered while on set was the director and the primary antagonist’s inability to swim.
Ryan Coogler now revealed to Variety how the filming process had come along for the crew of Black Panther 2 considering a major portion of the plot had to be filmed underwater.
Also read: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Review – A Triumph Of Unbreakable Spirit
Ryan Coogler Learns to Swim For Black Panther 2‘s Shooting
The audience was not surprised to learn that Tenoch Huerta exaggerated a few things on his resume to land the role of Namor the Sub-Mariner in MCU’s blockbuster event, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The actor did in fact learn to swim in order to secure the role as the primary antagonist of the film. Black Panther 2 director Ryan Coogler was in the same boat as well when it came to his skills in the water.
Given how the film introduces the underwater world of the mesoamerican Talokan civilization, despite exploiting Marvel’s impressive VFX department, there were scenes that required to be shot underwater on location. And that was a feat that challenged the director to get hands-on with his crew, considering he couldn’t simply send in his assistant director to do the job for him.
“If the camera’s in the water, actors are in the water, I’ve got to be in there too. I had to figure out how to swim, so I could direct this movie.”
The director goes on to say, “A lot of us were raised to have fear of water,” perhaps as a recounting of the socio-historical implications of the Black people and their ancestral trauma of death by drowning at birth or during their voyage across the Atlantic in order to escape institutionalized oppression. To have overcome generations of ideological beliefs to pursue the Black Panther sequel’s narrative to a completion speaks volumes about the dedication shown to bring the story to life.
The Realization of Ryan Coogler’s Vision in Black Panther 2
For Ryan Coogler, simply learning to span the waves was not enough. The young and gifted director gave his heart and soul to the production of the Black Panther sequel since the 2018 film’s unchecked success and record-breaking history. The Chadwick Boseman-led solo superhero film reshaped Black representation on screen and secured the position of the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time, until 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick knocked the movie off its rightful throne.
However, the efforts were soon rewarded when Coogler initiated the process of getting the sequel into motion. Then came the death of Chadwick Boseman, a tragedy that rocked the very core of the industry, the COVID-19 pandemic, the injuries sustained by Letitia Wright who was next in line to the throne, her alleged anti-vax campaign, and its repercussions across the Atlantic. 4 long years later, the film which was meant to be, saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and with it came a crushing wave of nostalgia, rehashing of the past, and healing of the grief left behind by one remarkable man.
The judiciously poignant storyline of the sequel navigates the journey of the in-universe characters in the aftermath of their leader’s passing and ties inherently with the consequences of Chadwick Boseman’s premature death in August 2020. It was only appropriate that the sequel, which in itself proved monumental in its ambition, would give its all into production to fulfill the enduring legacy of the late gifted actor.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever debuts on November 11, 2022.
Source: Variety
