Lupita Nyong’o Says “There Was Definitely Fear” Making ‘Black Panther’: “The Studio Was Taking A Chance”

Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years A Slave”) has a lot cooking at the moment. This month, she launches her new podcast, “Mind Your Own,” on September 19, and her new animated film, “The Wild Robot,” in theaters on September 27 (read our review). On the Marc Maron WTF podcast to promote both projects, Nyong’o was also asked about her work in Marvel’s “Black Panther” franchise and suggested there was much anxiety about making the film.

While Nyong’o didn’t outright say Marvel Studios were nervous or putting pressure on the cast, she suggested, the actress did suggest the entire cast felt a fear in making it, and the cast, crew and Marvel knew the stakes for this film were very high.

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“There was a lot of fear, of course, because the studio was taking a chance doing this all-Black superhero movie,” she said about making the first “Black Panther” in 2018. She paused, “Yeah? There was definitely fear that we felt.”

‘Even for us,” she continued. “Being like, ‘We’ve got to get this right. We cannot fail.’ Because all too often we hear the lie that Black material doesn’t sell. That a Black experience is not a global experience. And we had to prove it wrong. There was a feeling of ownership and determination on that set that was just like [makes fearsome unwavering sound].”

That said, Nyong’o had much praise for the project, especially the way it put a twist on British colonialism in Africa. “It was aspirational. As an African, I live with the tension of having fundamentally lost a part of myself through colonialism and the valuing of culture that isn’t my own… so much of it was deliberately erased,” she said, explaining how the trickle-down effect of colonialism is that was taught British history in school growing up rather than African history. “I often think, ‘What would we have been if we hadn’t been [forced] to switch gears and appreciate capitalism, and modernity as it is prescribed by a Western world?’ And ‘Black Panther’ was a chance to live that dream.”

Nyong’o also spoke about losing “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman and got choked up and emotional remembering him.

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“It was truly devastating,” she admitted. “And he hadn’t told us what was going on…he was a very private guy…But I definitely didn’t know he was on the way out. The news came to me as it came to everyone else and I was lost.”

It’s a engaging conversation and Nyong’o is incredible thoughtful. “The Wild Robot” opens September 27 and recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Listen to the conversation below.