Black Panther: Wakanda Forever roars into theaters this Friday, but to say the Marvel Studios sequel didn't have the smoothest of journeys to the big screen would be a major understatement.
The death of star Chadwick Boseman obviously made it very difficult for director Ryan Coogler and his cast/crew to forge ahead with the film, but things didn't get much easier once cameras were rolling. Shooting in the midst of the pandemic posed its own challenges, but then a frightening on-set accident took Shuri actress Letitia Wright out of action and set production back even further.
“I’m still processing it,” Wright tells Variety when asked about her debilitating injuries. “I’m still working through it in therapy. It was really traumatic.”
Apparently, the accident occurred when Wright was shooting a chase sequence that placed her on a “biscuit rig” that allowed the camera to film her riding a motorcycle in a real environment. “It clipped a median and sheared the bike off, and it tumbled,” adds producer Nate Moore.
Thankfully, Wright made a full recovery and production was able to resume - but not without controversy.
A since-deleted Tweet shared by Wright implied a strong ant-vax stance, and this was followed by reports that the actress had refused to get vaccinated along with her castmates. For what it's worth, Moore refutes this, claiming that he never heard Wright so much as mention anything relating to vaccines, and debunking the rumor that her refusal to get the jab held up the shoot.
“She only ever was the utmost professional and a joy to have around,” he says. “She didn’t cost us a moment. I mean, her injury was the thing that cost us, and that was no fault of her own.”
Wright herself was asked to clarify her views during this same interview, but the question was shut-down by her publicist.
Variety writes: "The following day, Wright’s representative said the actor would respond to emailed questions, including ones regarding the reports about her vaccination status; two days after the questions were sent, however, the rep said “schedule changes” prevented Wright from responding, and directed Variety to her Instagram statement from 2021."
It sounds like there might be a bit of damage control at work here, but whatever Wright's personal views happen to be, she delivers an incredible performance in Wakanda Forever (you can check out our review here).
Do you guys plan on catching Black Panther: Wakanda Forever this weekend?