By Kristy Puchko | Film | February 20, 2018 |
By Kristy Puchko | Film | February 20, 2018 |
To celebrate the incredible grand opening of Black Panther, director Ryan Coogler shared the secrets behind one of the film’s most outstanding action sequences for Vanity Fair’s Notes On a Scene series. It’s less than ten minutes long, and yet it’s the first director’s commentary that’s ever made us want to stand up and cheer.
Spoilers ahead, obviously.
In the second act of the latest Marvel movie, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Okoye (Danai Gurira), and Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) travel to a Busan casino to intercept Vibranium smuggler Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis). An eye-popping battle ensues. In the video below, Coogler takes us through the blow-by-blow.
Coogler talks everything from performance to stunts, cinematography, music, themes of Black femininity, hair and costume, boundaries, and Pan-Africanism. I know it’s early days. But can we please get a Black Panther special feature that has the entire director’s commentary play out with Coogler and a dry-erase marker? I mean, watching the film you can feel the work and thought that went into the rich world-building Wakanda and beyond. But seeing it discussed here is movie-lover nirvana. Coogler is the mercilessly talented filmmaker you think he is, and then some. I want literal hours of Coogler talking design, symbolism, and theme. And I doubt very much that I am alone.
If you want to learn more about the costumes of Black Panther, check out this interview with designer Ruth Carter. For more on the natural hair looks of the film, check out this piece featuring, Camille Friend, the head of the Black Panther hair department.