Ryan Coogler Says Disney Execs ‘Freaked Out’ Over Chadwick Boseman Speaking in Wakandan Accent on Black Panther Set

• Ryan Coogler said in an interview that Disney executives “freaked out” when they heard Chadwick Boseman use his Wakandan accent even when cameras weren’t rolling, on the set of Black Panther
• “I was like, ‘Don’t be freaked out. He’s working, man. He don’t turn it off till we wrap,’ ” the director recalled of his own response to the execs
• “He moved at an old-school pace and he took his time. He was always early; he was that type of dude,” Coogler also said of the late Boseman

Chadwick Boseman was committed to his craft.

In an interview with The Breakfast Club this week pegged to his new movie Sinners, filmmaker Ryan Coogler — who worked with Boseman on 2018’s Black Panther — recalled how the late actor was “talking in an African accent” even when the cameras weren’t rolling, including when Disney executives came to visit the cast and crew on set during the second week of production.

“[Chad] pulled up and [he was talking in] T’Challa’s accent, and they was freaked out,” recalled Coogler of the accent Boseman used as the king of Marvel’s fictional African nation of Wakanda.

“I was like, ‘Don’t be freaked out. He’s working, man. He don’t turn it off till we wrap,’ ” added the director, 38. “And no shame or embarrassment in that — that’s how he was moving.”

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Coogler also opened up about how his life was impacted by Boseman, who died at age 43 in August 2020 following a private four-year battle with colon cancer.

“He changed my life. He was the kind of teacher who you never knew you was getting a lesson when he taught,” he said, adding that Boseman taught “patience” to both himself and Michael B. Jordan, whom both men worked with on Black Panther and has collaborated with Coogler many times, including on their new movie Sinners.

“He moved at an old-school pace and he took his time. He was always early; he was that type of dude,” Coogler added of Boseman.

Of their time making Sinners, the filmmaker recalled telling Jordan, 38, ” ‘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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According to an official synopsis, Sinners finds Jordan playing twin brothers who, after leaving their “troubled lives behind,” return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting for them.

Coogler said on The Breakfast Club that he used the late Boseman’s commitment and work ethic, which Jordan saw “up close,” to help them “lock in” while filming their new project.