Ryan Coogler shares that Chadwick Boseman was the most intensely focused individual he’s ever encountered.
The Sinners director opened up during a conversation with Matt Barnes on the All The Smoke podcast, reflecting on what he gained from his collaboration with Boseman before his passing.
“He changed my life bro,” Coogler revealed. “He was a meditator and a martial artist, and he was extremely in control of his ability to focus.”
“When you were with him, he wasn’t the type of dude to be checking his phone and be distracted,” Coogler added. “He was the single most focused person I ever met.”
Coogler went on to say that Boseman’s intense concentration was something he found inspiring. “Looking back on it, it was incredible — and it’s something I aspire to. To be able to be that present with people,” Coogler shared. “He would take deep breaths. If you gave him some information, I could see him locking in.”
Coogler collaborated with Boseman on the wildly successful 2018 superhero blockbuster Black Panther. In a recent conversation with LeBron James for Interview Magazine, Coogler looked back on the filmmaking experience.
“To be honest with you, Bron—and it’s one of my great regrets—I was so young while we were making it, and so stressed out, that I didn’t appreciate what was happening, man,” Coogler confessed to LeBron when asked when he realized the film’s significance. “There were a few moments where I’d be like, ‘Oh man, this shit is getting crazy.'”
During production, Coogler admitted he was “dealing with impostor syndrome,” which prevented him from fully experiencing the moment. “I couldn’t appreciate the moment,” he acknowledged.
In 2021, Coogler spoke candidly about returning to direct Black Panther 2 following Boseman’s 2020 death from colon cancer.
“It’s difficult. You’ve got to keep going when you lose loved ones. I know Chad wouldn’t have wanted us to stop,” he explained. “He was somebody who was so about the collective. Black Panther, that was his movie. He was hired to play that role before anybody else was even thought of, before I was hired, before any of the actresses were hired. On that set, he was all about everybody else.”
“Even though he was going through what he was going through, he was checking in on them, making sure they were good,” Coogler added. “If we cut his coverage, he would stick around and read lines off camera [to help other actors with their performances]. So it would be harder for me to stop. Truthfully. I’d feel him yelling at me, like, ‘What are you doing?’ So you keep going.”
