BLACK PANTHER Director Ryan Coogler Explains Why Working On The Movie Means So Much To Him Personally
In a new interview, director Ryan Coogler explains why the Black Panther character means so much to him, and tells a moving story about the day he found out Marvel had hired him to work on the film...
At just 31-years-old, Ryan Coogler has already hit the big time with acclaimed features Fruitvale Station and Creed, but things are about to be taken to a whole new level with Black Panther. The Marvel Studios picture is undoubtedly the director's biggest project to date, but it may also turn out to be his most personal.
While chatting to EW, Coogler explained why T'Challa means so much to him, and casts his mind back to his days as a young comic book fan when he first discovered the character:
“I’m a fan myself. And I find … I’m honored, man, to be on a project that people care about this much.
When I first discovered comic books and superheroes, I remember falling in love with X-Men the first time I saw Bishop. I was like, ‘Holy smokes, there’s a black X-Man?’” Then I found out Stan Lee talked about how Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were some of his inspirations for Magneto and Professor X. So I was like, ‘Jeez, my culture is influencing this!’ And this is being referenced. But I always did long for that one [black] superhero who the whole book was around. The same way I could pick up a Captain America book or a Spider-Man book."
This prompted a visit to Dr Comics & Mr Games store near his elementary school in Oakland, Calif, where a whole new world was opened up to him. “I remember going in there saying ’You got any black superheroes? Got anybody who looks like me?’” Coogler recalls. “The first thing they did was walk me over to Black Panther.”
Needless to say, landing the first solo Black Panther movie gig was a huge deal for the director, and when he gave his wife the news she suggested they return to that very same comic shop:
“The day I took the job was an out-of-body experience. [My wife] was like, let’s go to that same shop that you told me about. It’s on Piedmont Avenue.” We went in and I bought the two Black Panther comic books I could find. I was like, you got to take a picture of me. And I sent it to Kevin.”
Black Panther is set to hit theatres on February 16, 2018.