SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” currently playing in theaters. Crafting its sequel, the biggest challenge Ryan Coogler…
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” currently playing in theaters.
Crafting its sequel, the biggest challenge Ryan Coogler and the team behind “Black Panther” faced was how to return to Wakanda after franchise star Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020.
During the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Artisans Screening Series conversation, producer Nate Moore discussed how they navigated moving the story forward without Black Panther himself. Moore told senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay, “Chadwick would’ve wanted us to go back to Wakanda and revisit the place that he helped to put on the map. He helped to breathe life into that because to some degree, I think Chadwick more than all of us knew what Wakanda meant for especially kids.” Moore told the audience that recasting the role was never a question they considered: “It was about how do we honor the spirit of that character and this world without the guy who helped us make it?”
T’Challa’s death is not the only one that occurs in the film. Angela Bassett, who plays Queen Ramonda, also dies. Screenwriter Joe Robert Cole explained that the genesis for the Queen’s death came from looking at Shuri’s (Letitia Wright) journey of grief and anger after having lost her brother.
Cole added, “How do you escalate that to where what happens at the end of the film feels earned? How can we get her to a place where we believe in her vengeance; and that fight on the beach that she is trying to kill this man, and that she has what it takes to take out this guy who is so powerful? We felt like that was something that made the most sense for our story.”
Coogler detailed telling his leading lady, who is receiving awards buzz for her portrayal, about her character’s death: “She had a reaction, but I think she understood. She was like, ‘We really going to do this? Are you sure? People are going to be upset.'”
The filmmaker also discussed how the film was a story about a mother and daughter, and how that was a rare feat for superhero movies. Coogler discussed how parenthood had changed his perspective. He said, “I can tell you, all of the lessons that I’m teaching my kids, everything I want to put in them, it’s not necessarily for when I’m here. You know what I mean? It’s for when I’m gone and when they mom is gone. We hope that these things stay with them.” He explained, “In this movie, the ultimate test of that relationship was that. Everything up until the midpoint is Ramonda trying to teach Shuri how to live, how to thrive, how to mourn healthily. Did she learn the lessons that her brother taught her? Did she learn the lessons that her father taught her? Did she learn the lessons that her mother taught her? Or not?”
Coogler was also joined by his fellow collaborators composer Ludwig Goransson and cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw.
Watch the video above.
