Black Panther [2018] (1 disc)

Random Trivia For This Title:

• ^[?] Yahya Abdul-Mateen II auditioned for the role of M'Baku. He would later go on to play the villain Black Manta in the upcoming DCEU film Aquaman (2018).
• ^[?] John Singleton was at one point attached to direct a film version of the character, envisioning Chiwetel Ejiofor for the lead. Ejiofor ended up being cast as Mordo in Doctor Strange (2016), which is also part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• The opening prologue was in and out of the script, before it was decided to keep it in the film. Sterling K. Brown, who plays N'Jobu, narrates the story of Wakanda to his son N'Jadaka, played by Seth Carr.
• John Boyega was considered for the role of T'Challa.
• The Royal Talon Remote Pilot System is voiced by South African comedian, Trevor Noah.
• While in London (UK) promoting the film, Martin Freeman introduced his young son Joseph to his co-star Danai Gurira who played Okoye, the boy's favorite character in the film. According to Danai, the boy was so entranced by the experience he would not let go of her hand. Danai was deeply touched by how the film had so completely captured the imagination of one so young.
• Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Djimon Hounsou and Anthony Mackie were considered for the role of T'Challa. All three would go on to play other characters in Marvel films: Agbaje was Algrim/Kurse in Thor: The Dark World (2013) Hounsou was Korath in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Mackie was Sam Wilson/Falcon in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
• No scenes were filmed in Africa. All Wakanda scenes were filmed in Georgia. The Korean scenes were shot on location in Korea.
• This was the first live-action film to be shown in Saudi Arabia in 35 years. The first film was The Emoji Movie (2017), at a film festival in Jeddah.
• Black Panther was the first of the Marvel characters whose movie rights reverted back to Marvel, having been previously owned by Artisan Entertainment and Columbia Pictures. Marvel got the rights back in 2005.
• Andy Serkis impressed Director Ryan Coogler to no end with his physical ability to take dives, do falls and just throw his body around, all while understanding the parameters of the VFX for his sonic blaster arm cannon, as if his real arm weren't there.
• Gorilla City, home to the Jabari Tribe, was originally set in a rain forest. Ryan Coogler felt that was too obvious, and suggested that it be set in a snow-covered mountain.
• Shuri cites the self-lacing shoes from the Back to the Future Part II (1989) as her inspiration for the footwear of the upgraded Black Panther costume.
• Black Panther (2018) is the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have its opening weekend domestic box office surpass its production cost. It cost $200,000,000 to make the movie, while its Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday opening weekend domestic box office was $202,000,000.
• Three out of every five people in Wakanda go barefoot, a deliberate decision by the costuming department.
• John Kani and his son Atandwa Kani play T'Chaka in his old age and youth, respectively.
• Even though he wasn't part of the final project, Snipes--who had been approached to play Black Panther in the 90's--has said that he supports the film and Chadwick Boseman's interpretation "1,000 percent".
• The Black Panther was created in July 1966, two months before the founding of the Black Panther Party. Many people mistakenly assumed the name referred to the Party, so the character was renamed the Black Leopard. However, neither the readers nor the creators cared for that title, and it didn't last long.
• To prepare for his role, Michael B. Jordan kept to himself while he was on set, reasoning that his character Killmonger is distant and in conflict with the other characters.
• During an interview with ^[?] Michel Martin on the radio program "All Things Considered," Danai Gurira (Okoye) said that the language spoken by Wakandans is a real language, Xhosa, a South African language characterized by clicks and glottal stops: "It's the same language that is native to ^[?] Nelson Mandela. It's from the Cape region of South Africa. And Mr. John Kani, who plays T'Challa's father, T'Chaka, he's Xhosa. And so he - they started and agreed to that language being the language of Wakanda in Captain America: Civil War."
• Director Ryan Coogler compared the Wakanda vibranium mines to the real-life situation of the Congo mines, where the valuable mineral coltan (used in manufacturing digital products, found only in the Congo region) is being mined.
• In response to being asked what it felt like being one of the only few non-black actors on set (and sometimes the only non-black actor on set), Martin Freeman said "You think, 'Right, this is what black actors feel like all the time?'".
• Co-stars Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke, who play adversaries Nakia and M'Baku, were students at the Yale School of Drama at the same time (Nyong'o was Class of '12 and Duke was Class of '13). They saw The Avengers (2012) together when it released, and were so awestruck by it they said hoped to get a chance to star in a similar film one day. Duke, in fact, would later return as M'Baku in the Avengers sequel Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
• Noel Clarke was turned down by Marvel for the role of Black Panther and writing the film.
• ^[?] Raw Leiba was considered for the role of Erik Killmonger.
• Spoilers
• The younger version of Forest Whitaker's character, Zuri, is played by Denzel Whitaker. Although they share the same surname, they are not father and son, nor are they related. They both also appeared in The Great Debaters (2007) (starring Denzel Washington, whom ^[?] Denzel Whittaker was named after) where funnily enough, they played father and son. Forest Whitaker has a son called ^[?] Ocean Whitaker who was born in the same year as Denzel Whitaker.