'Black Panther' Director on How Chadwick Boseman Inspired New Film

Black Panther director Ryan Coogler has opened up about the death of star Chadwick Boseman during an interview on The Breakfast Club on Monday. Boseman died in 2020, just over two years after Black Panther’s release, following a battle with colon cancer.

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Speaking on Monday, Coogler admitted that his frequent collaborator and Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan was most affected by Boseman’s passing. “Out of all of my actors, Chad’s death actually hit Mike (Jordan) the hardest,” Coogler said. “He was a fully baked man from the South,” the director continued of Boseman. “He was an old school man’s man and compared to that dude when we worked together bro, me and Mike was kids.”

Coogler continued: “He was the kind of teacher who you never knew you was [giving] a lesson when he taught. It was all by example and what he gave me and Michael was patience. He moved at an old-school pace and he took his time [but] he was always early. He was that type of dude. And Mike will tell you this, I told him, man, I said, ‘Hey bro, what would Chad do in this role? If he had this role what would he do?’ ‘Cause Chad never broke action.”

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Coogler went on to credit Boseman with his and Jordan’s ability to “lock in” during the production of their latest film, Sinners, explaining how seeing the Oscar nominee work “up close” inspired both of them to reach higher. Sinners, which hits cinemas on April 18, stars Jordan as twin brothers who return to their hometown to vanquish a supernatural evil. You can check out the trailer below.