Ryan Coolger has been the subject of success in the past few years, emerging as one of the most prominent black directors to come onto the scene. Following
Fruitvale Station the creator tackled his first franchise attempt with
Creed, an empowering revitalization of the
Rocky franchise. Fans hope to see the same success when his new film,
Black Panther, hits theaters next month. Expected to open around $100 million, rallying fans to create a inevitable cultural phenomenon.
Speaking with Fandango the director talked about his inspirations for the film, which surprisingly, yet expectingly included James Bond.
“Yeah, definitely with James Bond. I think similar to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we’re definitely influenced by the films of the ’70s and influenced by crime fiction.”
Coolger also adds that another film, titled A Prophet, was a looming influence as well, while also specifying which age of Bond films he was referring to.
"My favorite film is a film called A Prophet, a French film that was released almost a decade ago now, which seems a bit crazy. Any time I’m making a movie, I’m always leaning on inspiration from that one. A Prophet deals with secret societies and cultural ties, so that was a big influence [on the film]. I also watched a lot of Coppola’s work from the ’70s. We were looking at all of that stuff and also watched a lot of the James Bond films, but not the new ones. I wanted to watch the ones that were made in the ’60s and ’70s. I watched Goldfinger for the first time, and I just thought it was really interesting in terms of how James Bond was handy.”
It's safe to say that through the influences of early Bond, Coppola, and 70s politcal thrillers, this film is going to be most similar to the tone of The Winter Soldier within the MCU. And we all know that is absolutely fantastic.