Chadwick Boseman’s death left “a gaping hole” on the set of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.
Winston Duke – who reprises his role as warrior M’Baku in the upcoming sequel – appeared alongside the late actor in the original 2018 movie, and it was difficult returning to the set for the first time since Boseman died in 2020 after a secret four-year cancer battle.
Speaking on the ‘Jemele Hill Is Unbothered’ podcast, he said: “That is something that we have to wrestle with daily on set because there was a gaping hole when it came to his presence.
“You felt it daily. You felt him not being there. He was a very gentle presence of strength, power, and scope.”
Winston recalled how the late actor didn’t have a “big ego” on set, and that the “impact” he had on the movie was felt long after his death.
He added: “You knew he was there, but he didn’t have to say anything. He wasn’t walking around with a big ego…
“You don’t realise the impact when they’re there. But when they’re not, it’s apparent. You feel it intrinsically and that was the experience on set daily for a year.”
His comments come after director Ryan Coogler recently described ‘Wakanda Forever’ as having “the fog of loss over it”.
He explained: “I think this film has the fog of loss over it, and anamorphic lenses warp the image a little bit.
“Sometimes when you go through profound loss, it can warp how you look at the world. What we were after was just making it feel tactile, even though it felt like a dream.
“The film should feel like a really wild dream that you would have, but where everything felt like it was really there.”
