Yahoo News Producer Nate Moore On Pivoting ‘Black Panther’ After Chadwick Boseman’s Death And “More Stories To Be Told” With Harry Styles – Crew Call Podcast
“Should we even make this movie?”
That was a thought that crossed Black Panther: Wakanda Forever producer and Marvel executive Nate Moore’s mind following the passing of Chadwick Boseman about whether to move forward with the sequel.
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A script had been written, pre-production already in place, then Boseman’s sudden death on Aug. 28, 2020 at the age of 43 from colon cancer.
“How to narratively address his absence in a way that felt honest?” was a challenge that Moore says he, Marvel and filmmaker Ryan Coogler faced.
“It was the only way that felt authentic: We knew we had a reaction to the passing, but clearly the world did,” Moore explains on the latest episode of Crew Call.
“It felt like the most genuine thing to do as storytellers,” says Moore about Boseman’s passing “to use that that thing as fuel.”
“The notion of recasting never crossed my mind,” he adds.
Listen to the latest episode of Crew Call to hear what the initial iteration of Wakanda Forever was script-wise before Boseman’s passing:
Wakanda Forever thus morphed into a movie about a young woman through grief who finds her sense of power and purpose in the world, that being T’Challa’s sister Shuri played by Letitia Wright.
“She’s going through this right of passage, going through the stages of grief,” explains Moore, “and figuring out who she is and whether or not grief will consume her or if she’ll come out the other side and become a hero…She had to go through the fire and figure out who she was.”
In addition we talk with Moore about the Black Marvel superheroes he’s excited to bring to the big screen, i.e. Monica Rambeau in The Marvels. The Blue Marvel is another possiblity.
“There’s no secret the X-Men are coming home, if you talk Storm and Bishop, they’re two of the great characters in that franchise,” says Moore who emphasizes, “we’re early, early days” on that reboot.
And as far as other Marvel properties to be exploited on the big screen, let’s not forget Harry Styles’ turn as Starfox at the end of Eternals.
“We didn’t cast Harry for a tag,” says Moore who also produced that MCU title, “(There’s) more stories to be told with that character.”
“He has an interesting connection with Thanos; they’re half-brothers and share the same father.”
Adds Moore, “He’s a complicated character, but a really fun character.”
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