Black Panther director Coogler reveals fight scene details

Black Panther director, Ryan Coogler, shows off the details and amount of work that goes into a single action sequence.

Black Panther, Marvel’s latest big hit has just begun to sweep across theaters and is already breaking records. Its performance seems like a foregone conclusion and everyone is falling in love with the world of Wakanda. Beyond all of the money and the fandom love, we are just now starting to learn about the detailed work that went into creating this new country and its people. If you have not seen the film yet, then I would recommend holding onto this for later because it does contain some minor spoilers.

Coogler starts off here by going into the process of the wardrobe selections for Lupita Nyong’o’s and Danai Gurira’s characters. It turns out that Nakia’s dress for this scene was actually 3D printed and designed with the Wakandan aesthetic in mind. The alphabet of Wakanda is written with straight lines and boxes, instead of rounded characters and that is reflected in the colorful depictions all over her dress. Okoye‘s dress was chosen specifically to have her stand out among the crowd as she is the only person dressed in red.

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The gold inlay denotes her military rank and the annoyance she shows over the wig actually is a reference to the fact that the Dora Milage all shave their heads in a show of community and tradition. The costuming goes so far as to even plan the three colors that T’Challa, Okoye and Nakia wear together. The red, green, and black are all the colors of the Pan-African flag.

Another big theme of the film that is demonstrated in this scene, Coogler explains, is femininity used as a weapon. Nakia improvises her high heel as a slashing weapon, Okoye uses her wig to distract a foe, and her fighting style is compared to type of dance.

Next: Breaking down Black Panther: An in-depth review of Marvel’s latest entry

The latest advances in technology also helped them to plan and pull this scene off. It turns out that Coogler had a scale model of this setting 3D printed and on his desk as they structured this battle scene. The camera rig for the long take that follows the action from Nakia to Okoye had to be a custom build that was very tricky to pull off. This is a breakdown of only one scene in a very impressively constructed film. If you’ve already seen Black Panther then I think this is a great way to change how you look at it when you inevitably see it again.

Black Panther is in theaters now, be sure to check it out!