FMC 021: Black Panther Written and Directed by Ryan Coogler

Full Episode Transcript
This episode of Filmmaker Commentary the making of Marvel's "Black Panther," exploring its unprecedented box office success, the insights shared in Ryan Coogler's commentary, and the film's profound cultural and cinematic impact.

Introduction and Industry News
Reginald Titus Jr.: Filmmaker Commentary episode 21. Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary, where we give you insights from our favorite filmmaking commentaries. These commentaries can be heard on your DVD and Blu-rays of your favorite movies. We'll show you how you can use these commentaries and apply them to improve your video production and filmmaking techniques. All of this here on Filmmaker Commentary. I'm your host, Reginald Titus Jr.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary. I'm Reginald Titus. I'm joined with...
Casey G. Smith: Casey G. Smith.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome back, sir.
Casey G. Smith.: Good to be back, sir.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So today, we are, of course, talking about Black Panther.
Casey G. Smith: Wakanda forever!
Reginald Titus Jr.: But before we dig into that, let's talk about news.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Todd McFarlane, he's having a reboot of Spawn, and it's going to be starring Jamie Foxx. What do you think about the original version of Spawn with Michael...
Casey G. Smith: Michael Jai White. Back in the day, actually I saw that in the theaters. That's back when I was in high school. My buddy Fernando went to Rivercenter Mall, San Antonio to watch it. At the time, you know, I thought it was pretty cool. I mean, the from what I remember the effects were, you know, fairly cutting-edge. You had John Leguizamo playing the Violator. And Spawn was hot then. I mean, Spawn was huge. He had his his really dark animated series on HBO. It's been a long time since I watched it. I kind of wouldn't mind going back and revisiting it. But yeah, I thought I thought it was cool and it was it was also again cool to see a black male lead as a superhero/ more like anti-hero when you think about Spawn, dude's kind of dark. But yeah, I thought I thought it was alright. How about you?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I know I didn't go to the theater. It had to been like through a Blockbuster or something like that. But I was a fan of it. Looking back at it, because recently I seen it not too long, it had to been about a couple years ago, I watched it. I was like, "Ooh, those graphics are terrible." And I recently seen Todd McFarlane, he did like a small little documentary on him and Image Comics and all the things that he was doing with toys and just as a businessman. And he talks about how he they rushed through the graphics of that and you it looks terrible. You go back and look at that, it's bad.
Casey G. Smith: That's what I've heard. I've heard like people say that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, they definitely did not hold up. At the time you don't know, you don't know. Even back then it seemed a little like whatever, but man, when you go back, you're like this is primitive.
Casey G. Smith: Mm.
Reginald Titus Jr.: But he and he talked about it, you know, he was being straight up. But anyhow, so Todd McFarlane, you know, he's the creator of Spawn, writer. He will be directing it. But Jason Blum from Blumhouse Productions will be producing it.
Casey G. Smith: Yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And they say some people are nervous about Jamie acting in it, but there's also they say Jamie might not even have any lines. There's a possibility they may not even be lines with the character.
Casey G. Smith: So some of the things that I that I've heard with with this Spawn is that they're going they're going for more of a horror feel, which is perfect when you when you match up with with Blumhouse.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Casey G. Smith: That's what they specialize in. You know, they they they keep it low budget and they tend to get with actors and directors who are either on kind of the rise or maybe on the other end, kind of on the decline. So they can get a good price point, right?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Um, not that Jamie Foxx is on the decline, but I mean, he hasn't had anything really huge in the past couple of years.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, and the thing is with the Blumhouse production how they do that, they get more points on the back end for those people. If after they they show the film and, well, I mean, when they're doing the test, if they do a test and it hits and it gets a wide release, the people that get the points on the back end, they're the one, you know, the actors and whomever, that's when they win. But there a lot of people are on scale and they get like the the bare minimum.
Casey G. Smith: The minimum.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, and then they're all hoping to win on the back if it performs well during their test screening.
Casey G. Smith: So I'll be honest, I'm not worried about Jamie Foxx and his performance. This is an Academy Award-winning actor. I think people are are are thinking about his performance in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 as Electro, but that's just what he had to work with. Jamie Foxx can do whatever he needs to. So if he's if he's signed on for this, and apparently I heard that he had had actually a conversation with Todd McFarlane a couple years back.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Casey G. Smith: And then they they reconnected and and and McFarlane had had Jamie in mind for it. So if he's excited about it, and McFarlane is excited about it, then I'm I'm excited. I'm excited to see what goes down. I think definitely going a darker route and just toning it down. I think can make this really effective. You know, it's kind of like that Jaws effect. If you use Spawn in a very sparing kind of way and it's more about what you didn't see, the the chance of him showing up out of nowhere. That could really work, especially if maybe kind of told from somebody else's perspective, and they're talking about Spawn and that the guy who lurks in the in the alley. That could be very fascinating. So what what do you think about Foxx coming on?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Jamie Foxx, he's a proven he's a proven actor. Oscar winner, he's been there. The person I'm concerned about is Todd McFarlane.
Casey G. Smith: No, first time.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, first time director. Of course, he's directed before. I kind of looked on his IMDb, so he's done some TV stuff and music videos, but that was like back in the day, like he's done some music videos for Korn. Remember the band Korn?
Casey G. Smith: Oh yeah, with the K, with a backward R?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, exactly. So he's done some stuff for like Korn, stuff, but that was like back in the day. So I'm a little bit concerned about that, as him being the director doing that, but I also know from watching that documentary like just kind of how he wasn't happy how things were going with the first time around with with the whole Spawn situation. And I'm pretty sure he wished he had more control over it.
Casey G. Smith: I think that with as much time that has gone by, I think he'll be alright. I think I think working with with with Blumhouse, that they'll give him the guidance that he needs. I think working with a seasoned actor like Jamie Foxx, you know, I don't know, I feel I feel pretty optimistic. Even though again, like this is his first major budget, but it's also they're going they're going smaller. And again, nobody knows this character better than than he does. Now again, that doesn't that doesn't equate to great directing.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes.
Casey G. Smith: We saw with Frank Miller, he worked with Robert Rodriguez to do Sin City, even though that's Frank Miller's work. And then he branched out to do The Spirit, which isn't his original work. And that didn't go so well. But again, McFarlane's doing it with a given property that he's written hundreds of issues for of of Spawn.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And that's what I'm thinking about. It's um even though he's not necessarily like a proven director in horror right now, he's probably the perfect perfect person to do this considering, you know, he created it, wrote it, lives in it. He's going to put the time in. So I think people should kind of be looking at him a little bit more. He's probably the perfect person to do this.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I think enough time has passed that I don't I'm very optimistic. I think I think the first trailer will will tell us a lot.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, you got a point. It'll tell us everything.
Casey G. Smith: Yes, I think I think we'll I think we will we will know quite a bit from that first that first trailer.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What I do know is that they're going to make money. Regardless how bad it is, they're going to make money.
Casey G. Smith: Yes, they they definitely will.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's one thing that Todd McFarlane and Blumhouse know how to do, so they will make money. But I'm also interested, say this thing blows up. McFarlane, he has a film company, it's called McFarlane Films, so it'll be interesting to see what he does with his properties if this blows up.
Casey G. Smith: That will be interesting. That will definitely be interesting. Maybe, you know, a little maybe a shared universe. I'll be honest, I don't really know many of his other properties outside of outside of Spawn.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Well, you know what? Yeah, you're right. Because now I think about it, with the Image Comics thing, the people that came in and created it actually kept the copyrights to their characters. I think that's the thing that made it different, right?
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, absolutely it did.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, so never mind, I scratch that comment.
Casey G. Smith: Well, so does he not have his does he not have a film production studio or?
Reginald Titus Jr.: No, he still has McFarlane Films, but I don't know what other properties he has control over.
Casey G. Smith: Well, you know, it doesn't mean that he couldn't strike a deal with his fellow um, you know, Image cohorts and they they might be able to do something maybe through his. But I mean, there's a lot of stuff that that has a lot of characters who have options sitting out there and potential development deals with other studios. So we'll see, but yeah, we'll we'll see how uh how Spawn comes together.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I like it. All right, that's it for now. Next time when we get on the news, there's this thing with CGI and how like CGI houses are not getting enough money, and how and of course we're talking about a Marvel property today. So we'll get into a little bit of the CGI stuff, but there's like some development stories about CGI and how some of these effects houses aren't getting the money they deserve. But we'll talk more into that next time. All right, let's get back to the commentary.

Black Panther Box Office Success
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay, so Black Panther. $200 million budget. $699 million at the box office US.
Casey G. Smith: Boom.
Reginald Titus Jr.: $1.19 billion worldwide. That's a B.
Casey G. Smith: Big boom.
Reginald Titus Jr.: How much is that as profit? That's theatrical. We're not even talked about DVD, home entertainment, we're not talking about none of that stuff.
Casey G. Smith: We're not talking about merchandising.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh.
Casey G. Smith: We're not even talking about merchandise. Because when I when at the height of Black Panther hysteria, I went into a Target. I saw like classy like wall art you could put up.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What?
Casey G. Smith: For Black Panther. I saw blankets and bedspreads, and of course, toys and clothing and costumes and whatever you could, you know, piggy banks, whatever you wanted Black Panther. It was out there and it's like, I can't believe I'm seeing this. As a long-time fan, it just blew my mind. It made me smile, but I'm like, "Man, Disney's just laughing all the way to the bank." But back to the box office, $200 million budget.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh-huh.
Casey G. Smith: Opening weekend in the US, it made $202 million. Now, of course, you know, this doesn't include the P&A, but just your initial cost of making the film, you make that back in the US domestically alone. That's huge. That is absolutely huge. And of course, you know, their their P&A budget had to be pretty big. It was probably a 100.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They were marketing everything almost like a year out, right? When did that first trailer hit? Like the famous scene is him when he flips the car and they played that like over and over and over again. It was everywhere.
Casey G. Smith: Who was it? The song that was played? It was "Legend Has It." I think that was the name of the song that played to that trailer. That that trailer set the social media on fire. That was...
Reginald Titus Jr.: You do have a point. Man.
Casey G. Smith: That was absolutely amazing.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I don't remember when they dropped it, but they were pushing that thing for sure.
Casey G. Smith: Was that during the NBA Finals?
Reginald Titus Jr.: It was.
Casey G. Smith: Was it?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, that very first trailer, that was during the NBA Finals when that dropped.
Casey G. Smith: So last summer? I guess that would make sense because...
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Yeah, it was it was it was during the Finals, because people were like, "Oh man," because it actually I think I think it may have you know what? I might be mistaken. I think the full trailer dropped during the Finals, but the teaser dropped maybe maybe a little bit before that. I think the first full trailer dropped during the NBA Finals.
Casey G. Smith: Let's talk about how you watched it. Of course, you and I...
Reginald Titus Jr.: We went to the theater!
Casey G. Smith: You know. So, um, so I went and saw Black Panther with you. The first screening. I even and I I I know, I I went all in, guys. I went all in. I I I went to a little African clothing store.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, you did.
Casey G. Smith: Uh, and and and got this nice, uh, nice Nigerian like kind of it was a dark gray piece. And I had I had pants too, but they didn't have time to get them like hemmed up and all that kind of stuff. So. But, um, but yeah, you know, wore that, met met Reginald and and and his son at the theater, and yeah, man, we went to Wakanda. And and there was an issue at the theater where it was supposed to be in 3D, but the 3D wasn't working.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's right. I forgot about that.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, it was supposed to be 3D IMAX. It wasn't working for whatever reason. And...
Reginald Titus Jr.: It was a conspiracy theory. They were trying to make the those tickets they wouldn't. That's more money, right? So.
Casey G. Smith: Hey, you know. But what what it so the film they couldn't show it in 3D, so they showed it in just regular IMAX, but they gave us passes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They gave us three passes.
Casey G. Smith: They gave us like two passes or something like that. I was like, "Oh, that'll work." Watching it on screen, seeing all these people around me from people from all walks of life. That that it was it was really diverse in the crowd. I was like, "Oh, wow." Man, I just I just felt like this incredible, I felt pride. I felt this like legit sense of pride because as everybody knows by now, is a black director, predominantly all black cast of quality actors. Some of the classiest people because I watched so many interviews afterwards. I couldn't get enough of this cast. Just listening to them interview and just how amazing they represented themselves and how they represented the movie and Disney and Marvel and just black people, you know, I'm just like, "Ah, man, this is so amazing." This is the conversations. So, yeah, saw it in the theater three times. I I I wanted to make it a fourth, but then, you know, life happens and I got busy, but after it was weird, because after I I'd leave a screening a day or so to go by, I'm like, "Man, I I kind of want to go back to Wakanda." Like I just I wanted to go and hang out.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: So, how about you, Reginald?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Same with those passes, you know, we watched it, had a blast. Kid blown away. I'm blown away. And it did, you know, that scene when they are going into Wakanda through the hologram, you're like, "Oh," it's like going home or something, you know?
Casey G. Smith: Right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, really, really enjoyed it. Took those passes, took my wife and we went to watch that one. And then I watched it for a third time, I don't remember. But I know I saw it twice for sure. So that $200 million that weekend, I, you know, that had to come from just people watching it back-to-back, back-to-back. Now I don't really do movies like that at the theater. I don't I don't yeah, I don't watch movies back-to-back. But this is the first time in a long time where I went back to the theater to watch it again and happy to to do that.
Casey G. Smith: That's high praise, man. That really is high praise. And this wasn't just a cultural milestone. And it was that, no doubt.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Casey G. Smith: But this was a this became this movie became a worldwide phenomenon. Like I'll share with you just a couple of records that Black Panther broke during its theatrical run. So, this probably was broken recently by by Avengers Infinity War, but up until then, uh, it was the actually no, it actually this still stands. It's the highest-grossing solo superhero movie.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Mm-hm.
Casey G. Smith: So we're talking bigger than Spider-Man, bigger than Batman, bigger than Superman. Like Black Panther, highest-grossing superhero movie. Are you kidding me? That's incredible. Best-reviewed comic book superhero movie of all time. Best-reviewed Ryan Coogler movie. Best-reviewed movie for its lead actor, so Chadwick Boseman, who's played incredible roles from Jackie Robinson to Thurgood Marshall, to James Brown, and those are stellar performances. Again, up until recently, it was the highest-grossing film of 2018. The highest-grossing movie by a black director. Fifth best opening of all time. Best pre-summer opening of all time. Best February opening of all time. Best President's Day weekend, President's Day weekend opening of all time. Best holiday weekend opening of all time.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Just best movie.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, the best opening for a non-sequel. This is just again, the accolades go on and on for Black Panther.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I better see some Oscars, that's all I'm saying.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, at minimum for costume design.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. And music. And directing. And producing. Like.
Casey G. Smith: Come on, come on.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They got a lot can you compete with that, dude?
Casey G. Smith: Bam, bam, ba-bam. Love that Killmonger theme, guys. Love that Killmonger theme.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Everybody was just stealing themes. But yeah, um, multiple watches. So that's how and this is fresh. So like the Blu-ray movie, you know, it hit May 15th, so we're, you know, this is still fresh in the atmosphere. But it's crazy how movies quickly kind of die out in a way now. So like this came out in February, right?
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, February 15th.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Valentine's weekend or?
Casey G. Smith: That's when we saw it. Yeah, February 15th. So February 16th, I think that that would be that Friday, but we saw it that Thursday night.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. So yeah, so February 16th.
Casey G. Smith: These days like, you know, you you have that buzz and that buzz is there only for about two weeks if it's hot, maybe a couple days if it's a good movie.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Casey G. Smith: It was either the day that it dropped, the day before, and the day after Ryan Coogler's doing interviews, Michael B. Jordan's doing interviews. Everybody is just doing interviews all over the country just like, "Buy your tickets, buy your tickets!" Like they were crushing. They were still excited. They were happy. They were just like, "Yeah, go watch it." Then like you fast forward like maybe a month after, they're like kind of halfway throwing up the Wakanda sign like, they're like burnt out.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Well, I mean, they they went on a whirlwind. I mean, to do PR for a Marvel film. You are literally literally traveling all over the world. Um, you know, they went to South Korea and the UK. I mean, they were hitting those major markets. So it's it's a whirlwind and they did a lot of interviews. I watched a lot of those interviews. I was like, "Wow, man, they're just going to." And then you got you know the the press junket days where just I mean just back to back to back just to all the different channels and platforms that can come through and talk. So yeah, they they they put their time in for sure.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And it seems like so long ago, but it was just February, you know, we're here at the end of May. But um, you know, now it's already, you know, it's on home entertainment and things like that.
Casey G. Smith: Well, here's a funny thing. I was looking at the either Box Office I think Box Office Mojo this weekend and Black Panther was number 15.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's still playing?
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, it's still in theaters and it was number 15.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I love it. What?
Casey G. Smith: Like that's that's that's amazing.
Reginald Titus Jr.: But it also, yeah, and I wonder like because it's not in every market, right? Like some some people like, okay, we've moved on, but maybe it's the movie is still playing in smaller towns, you know, where that's it that's kind of what they have. We got a few movies, we're going to milk this to the very end.
Casey G. Smith: Hey.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Because I know I was still looking around for Real Player One. You're like, "You know, I still want to kiss that theater." Ready Player One. Yeah, there was there was a few theaters that still had the movie playing.
Casey G. Smith: Well, that makes sense because again, that's...
Reginald Titus Jr.: But, man.
Casey G. Smith: Panther's been out, I think, significantly longer. Ready Player One came out what, last month?
Reginald Titus Jr.: But it depends on how successful. These days things happen so quickly.
Casey G. Smith: That's very true.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And so that's what I'm saying. Even with Black Panther being so successful, it's already out on Blu-ray. It's already, you know, it's only a few months. So it's like it's...
Casey G. Smith: That's a good point.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: It used to take it used to take a while for something to come to home entertainment. But now that that window has shrunk.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's almost day and date now. It's almost that for even for the big studio films, it's almost day and date. Like that's how...
Casey G. Smith: It's shrunk significantly. Well, they start putting up pre-orders day and date.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.
Casey G. Smith: Like when I when I jump on on on my PlayStation, the movie will will drop and be in the theater that day, and they already have pre-orders up for whatever it is. On already there, "Hey, pre-order," hey, whatever the latest thing is. I'm like, "Are you kidding me?"
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, I like that, but things are changing and then like depending on how it's performing, you may only have a couple weeks. You may only have a month. And we got to get that out of there because we got to get the next thing up, you know.
Casey G. Smith: That's true, especially as the summer months approach. It's just a pretty stacked time. Also interesting seeing with films, just how some months that before used to be kind of dumping grounds and you didn't expect much, like February. February, I don't think was I mean, up until recently, it wasn't a huge month for big films. When Deadpool dropped a couple years ago, that actually really kind of broke some things open. Deadpool made a boatload of money.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And I did go to the movie to see that one.
Casey G. Smith: That was super enjoyable. I think Black Panther kind of saw that, and of course, again, it was Black History Month as well, which is just smart, just makes sense. And it it it paid off. It paid off in droves.

Filmmaking Commentary Insights - Narrative and Themes
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, let's go into the commentary. So the commentary, you have Ryan Coogler and you have production designer Hannah Beachler. Of course, Ryan directed it and co-wrote it, wrote it, co-wrote it.
Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And the commentary, it was a little when they recorded, apparently it was after the release of the film. So it was around the time when all this buzz is happening. Everybody's just having a good time. And you know, they're mentioning the Mbaku challenge and all that stuff. I was like, "Okay, that was kind of a cue to let us know like, okay, this is after the fact." They were like enjoying the buzz. They're just, "Let's go knock this out real quick." And makes me think I'm like, are they wanting to do these commentaries and some of the special feature stuff or is it just like a requirement from the studio to be like, "Hey, y'all do this because we're about to do the we're about to get ready for the release of the home entertainment stuff."
Casey G. Smith: I would imagine that they that they want for especially for like Ryan Coogler, I would imagine that he that he wants to do it. He sound he sounded excited, he was having a good time and just uh I mean, this is his biggest film. And and a character that, you know, said he was a fan of since he was young and that this this meant a lot to him to do this. And this this film is very personal to him. He's talked about in multiple interviews how this was a a very big journey and and had him ask a lot of questions of himself and and there are different parts, I think all of his films are very personal to him. And there's always a part of him and a part of Oakland even within the films that he does. He he works that in in in all of it. But I think he was definitely excited to talk about it and explain some of his thoughts, especially being the writer co-writer and director of it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, , the commentary, it's not as technical as I would like, but it does give you a lot of background on the story and how they came up with it. So it was a to me it's a different approach to commentary, but , I liked it. It was they had like little nuggets about the backstory.
Casey G. Smith: So you could almost say this is maybe more so of a of a of a writer's commentary. Because they're they're talking a lot about the exposition, a lot about different themes and motifs as we'll we'll we'll get into some of those, but if you're a writer, I think you'll you'll take quite a bit or even if you're a production designer. I think there's a lot of things you could take from the the commentary. Again, it's not not quite as technical. They talk they don't talk too much about how certain shots were done. They they touch on it a little bit, but yeah, I think Ryan definitely leaned more towards the uh the the writer side of things in the commentary. But I still I still enjoyed it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I did enjoy it. And then I like how he tries to get Hannah involved like, "So what do you think about this, Hannah?"
Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, number one, one of the points I have is, you know, exposition is important. So there's a scene where we get to see Black Panther fight for the first time in the forest. With the exposition, you see that the the suit is bulletproof, you get a chance to see the athleticism of Black Panther, and you get to see the strength of him, you know, he's taking a door off a car and throwing it at somebody, like, like it's nothing, like just, "I'm strong."
Casey G. Smith: Yikes. Stronger than you. Uh, definitely. And then even when they talk about exposition even at the beginning of the film, when um they have uh T'Chaka's brother. Ah, I'm blanking on his name. Uh N'Jobu played by Sterling K. Brown, when he and and Zuri are are no, no, no, I'm sorry, I messed up. When N'Jobu at the very beginning when he's talking to his son who is Killmonger, he's like, "You know, Baba, tell me a story."
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: And they're they're kind of going through the history of Wakanda, Wakanda, Wakanda.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh yeah, you're right.
Casey G. Smith: That whole piece, they went back and forth as what as to whether or not to include that. But that is a is a I think it's a beautiful exposition. If you come into that film and you've never heard of Black Panther, you don't know anything about it, they perfectly set up and give you an understanding of the importance of Wakanda, their source in Vibranium and kind of just taking you on from there. I think I think they do a really good job. I think if I I mean, I know a lot about the character, but if I had know didn't know anything going in, the first couple of things that they do, I think really helps set that up and and give that uh that exposition. Because even when when the show um T'Challa on the on on their their jet and he's watching the news footage when they're recapping the death of his father. So those things kind of kind of all can call back and they kind of can bring you up to speed kind of quickly.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's true. Yeah, that that first sequence, and I like that because they also show like the sand, what they call the sand table, and they're basically illustrating the story with the sand table. And that's um it introduced you to that because you don't know what it is. It's like, why does it look like this? Why does this intro sequence look like this? Then later on, they reintroduce it to you like how they use this technology. And it that's just a lot of thought. That's well thought out for them to put so much information into like these small little sequences.
Casey G. Smith: The technology, yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Also, kind of ties into the theme of even within like African culture, Coogler says that a lot of times people reuse in the African culture, they reuse a lot of tools and things have multiple purposes, multiple usage. So aside from just communication, it's also a great way maybe to to preserve and share history and to to educate. So, yeah, it it's it's great to see that technology doubling doubling over, reintroducing us to it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And another thing with the with the exposition, uh Shuri, um I'm gonna say her name right. We get exposition about how the suit works. So she's introduced, you know, we get to see their bond as siblings, but at the same time, she's showing us the audience like how, why when he gets hit, you know, it it's he's redistributing the energy and things like that. So she's teaching us, she's teaching him, and then at the same time they get we get to see their bond. So that is very well written to to accomplish all these things at the same time.
Casey G. Smith: It really is. And and just the the constant juxta juxtapositions. Like the the the themes in these relationships, you know, between T'Challa and Shuri, you know, he is he kind of represents the old school and and traditional. And he's again, T'Challa is a is a genius in and of himself in the comic books. Um, I don't know that they fully have explored that in the in the films just yet. I don't think they really let that come across, right. But he designed that first suit. That would be his suit, his design.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh.
Casey G. Smith: And that's why she's like, "You know, this is good, but..." Mine designs are better. You know, you you you you got yours designed to kind of come in and just, you know, take the hits, you know, and you got take your mask on and off. Nah, nah, nah, nah. Nano-tech is where it's at, bro.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Casey G. Smith: And so, you know, but she represents the new school. And even kind of bucking tradition. Like Shuri doesn't doesn't really care about tradition. But we'll find a little bit later on that there's still there are still things for her to learn and there are still some values in the tradition. And then we find out with T'Challa, there's a time to to let go and to step in. So there's a little bit of of kind of balancing of the scales as these characters progress through the film.

Filmmaking Commentary Insights - Production and Techniques
Reginald Titus Jr.: So some of the shots, so as you're flying into Wakanda, you'll notice like these long sweeping shots. And they're of South Africa. So they went to South Africa to get a lot of these plates. A plate is a term used in the film industry. So whenever you're just shooting like a landscape or just a a stagnant scene with nobody in it, um you use that, they use the term plate, and then you'll put your like special effects on top of that. So they shoot these plates and then they'll later on put the CGI spaceship flying across the landscape of Wakanda, which is actually South Africa.
Casey G. Smith: So it's kind of like compositing the shot together. There you go.
Reginald Titus Jr.: There you go. Another point, shooting in Atlanta, apparently.
Casey G. Smith: Yes, Marvel, Marvel has has made their living in Atlanta. In ATL. So many of their films. Captain America Civil War, Ant-Man and the Wasp. Um, they they have a great sound stage there. I I want to say even pro probably part of Spider-Man Homecoming, you know, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. They have they have shops set up in Atlanta. And yeah, they shoot a lot of their movies there. And they they make it work. So scenes in Black Panther, whether they were quote-unquote in London, no, they were actually on a sound stage in in Atlanta. Okay, were they in South Korea? Well, actually some of it they think they they actually were for some of it. Some of it, they were actually in Atlanta. So when once you get into the actual casino, that's in Atlanta. And so it's just like this they just do such a great job, right? Again, especially like you said when you when you uh use those those those backdrops. What was the term that you used? The the plates, there we go, the plates. So when they use the plates, that you can you know, be transported anywhere.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Practical effects? No, no.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, the plates.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, for sure. Yeah, but Atlanta has been very, very good to Marvel. And clearly Marvel has been very, very good to Atlanta because with all those films, that's a lot of local people getting work.
Casey G. Smith: That's a lot of work.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Apparently, you know, Atlanta has a lot of um if you do the research, they have a lot of tax rebates and certain incentives for movies to be there there in a certain budget range. And so, hey, if you have a big budget, shoot in Atlanta.
Casey G. Smith: That's what I was going to say, they must be aiming for those big budgets because Marvel coming through like that, so.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So Ryan Coogler, he talks about motifs. And motif being like a theme that that reoccurs. So a few of those themes is, you know, your identity and your name and uh T'Challa pulls from from that. And then also your identity and who are you? You know, he asked that question in different ways, who are you? Another one of these themes is, you know, things hiding in plain sight. So actually Wakanda itself is hiding in plain sight. Things like the oh, another thing with like the another example of hiding in plain sight, like the Korean market. Like it's on the outside, it just looks like a random just like fish market or whatever. You go inside, it's like a casino and you have to be dressed up to be in there.
Casey G. Smith: Two stories.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Well, even at the very beginning with N'Jobu. Um, he's there and he's a he's an he's a Wakandan prince hiding right there in in plain sight in in California. At the same time, this guy that he thinks that he trusts, you know, Zuri thinks he's he's an American, but he's really a Wakandan spy for T'Challa. It's like it's it's it's just kind of continual. And even as uh Killmonger progresses, his whole his whole journey in America, he's hiding in plain sight. His whole goal is to get back to Wakanda. So yeah, it's it's it's all throughout the film. Layers.
Casey G. Smith: So you think N'Jobu?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Some more of the themes are like, you know, necklaces and the herringbone, the gold herringbone that they were wearing kind of like in the um Oakland, yeah, in the Oakland area. Uh they resemble that from Tupac, right? Those necklaces, and then how the necklaces are important in their tribes. And, you know, the suit is created through a necklace. Um, and then also, you mentioned T'Challa just being a good person. That's also a theme that's reoccurring over and over again.
Casey G. Smith: Yes, Coogler says at one point that T'Challa's superpower is knowing the right people to trust. By the end of the film, we see that it it does pay off in a number of different ways. The people that he he chooses to confide in, confide in, you know, whether it's Okoye, whether it's Shuri, uh, whether it's his mother, whether it's Nakia, or whether it's uh Everett Everett K. Ross, which that's a big gamble when he chooses to trust him. But at the end, it it does it does pay off even though he's a CIA agent.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, another point is, you know, when learn how to pay homage and kind of reference other things and know about other films and how because this is really, no matter what you shoot, there's really nothing new. And so do your research, look at these different films and see how you can get inspired from these other films and how you can put them in your films and pay homage. One of those scenes is when Shuri, his sister is showing how the suit works. It's like paying homage to the 007 series, right?
Casey G. Smith: Yes, particularly, of course, with with James Bond. The person that makes all the weapons and gadgets for him is is known as Q. And so Shuri is is literally she's she's the Q of Wakanda, scientific genius, innovator. She's in her space, she's, you know, giving T'Challa a chance to test things out. And um, yeah, she definitely serves that role. And and again, Letitia Wright, she she gets all the praise and credit in the world for the energy she brings to this film. She brings this wonderful, vibrant, youthful energy that uh that everybody just enjoyed. You know, you hear the line where she's like, you know, "What are those?" You know, I mean, yeah, it it gets the audience uh every time. So she uh she was she was wonderful in this film.
Reginald Titus Jr.: For sure.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Also, there's a scene when the uh during the Korean casino when Claw comes in to the club and uh the the metal detectors are going off and they do nothing about it. It reminds me of old JAY-Z video from 1999. It's called "Do It Again." And it's like Beanie Sigel was going on, it was like very popular in 1999. But there's a scene where uh this guy comes into the club and like it just goes it's like green bars and they turn red, kind of signifying that he has like something on him. Then all the bodyguards like tackle this guy. Then JAY-Z comes in. Same thing happens to JAY-Z. He got the thing, the metal detectors are going off. And they just let him in. Yeah. Then he looks at the guy on the ground like, "Nah."
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. You're not me. No.
Reginald Titus Jr.: But like that image it pops in my head because those metal detectors don't look like that, but they made it super visual to kind of show you what's up with this character.
Casey G. Smith: Nice. So one of the things that you talked about homages in the film, one of the things that that Coogler took the time to point out a couple of times were some of the homages not necessarily to other films, but to the different comic book artists and authors who have written Black Panther over the years. Uh, and even some of the the suggestions. So at at the Warrior Falls when when when Zuri asks if anybody wish to challenge T'Challa for for the title of of of of king. Shuri raises her hand and then, you know, but it's but it's, you know, and people who know the comics and some of the different runs know that that Shuri wanted to become Black Panther, wanted to challenge for it. And in actually the Black Panther uh short animated series, which is based on a on a on a run. I want to say it's a Christopher Priest run, but I don't think that's right. But nonetheless, during that run, she wants to challenge for the title but doesn't. So when she raises her hand in in the in the movie, I'm like, "What?" But then it's just fake out. She knows she just she said something witty and and and funny and they and they move on. But that was actually a suggestion by uh Donald Glover and his brother. They suggested that to Ryan Coogler.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, I thought Hudlin did that one, right?
Casey G. Smith: Yes, yes, Hudlin's, Hudlin's run. And in that one, she's trying to get into the ring but she gets she gets sidetracked and and and things happen. So when she raises her hand in in in the movie, I'm like, "What?"
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, really?
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, yeah, that was a suggestion that they made.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They're in a special thanks in the credits.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah, well, he mentioned that in the commentary that they they made that suggestion.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. So there's a couple of different homages. Even uh when he tackles uh that rhino um toward in the third act, that's uh homage to um some scenes or in different issues of the comic book back in the like 70s and in in 80s where he's he's done that before where he's he's brought down rhinos, just showing again the strength of the Black Panther.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Crazy.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Another homage is when he was running up the building. He's like that's like the Bo Jackson thing.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, that was really cool when he said that. I'm like, "Oh man!"
Reginald Titus Jr.: You've seen that before, but you don't know what to connect it to. So when he said that...
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. "Oh man!" I'm like, "That's awesome!" When he said that, I'm like, "Yeah, because Bo Jackson..."
Reginald Titus Jr.: Super athlete.
Casey G. Smith: Yes, yes. Dude's swole and didn't lift weights.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's insane. It's just that's called a genetic freak. Like when you just like just that gifted. Because there are literally there are legends about him. There was a ESPN documentary.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I saw that one.
Reginald Titus Jr.: "The Legend of Bo Jackson." It's like the things that people would say, that stuff that he did. It's like, "What?" And I couldn't believe that too.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. No, it's next level. And and so it's it's it's cool to see that Coogler had an homage to to to the great Bo Jackson.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, indeed. They talk about the spaceship kind of have, you know, when it's falling and it just lands like right before hitting the ground, it's like Mission Possible.
Casey G. Smith: Right in the third act when that with Everett K. Ross, right, right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So I would just say, just be an observer of things. Be an observer of life and taking these movies and and see what you can borrow, what you can take or be inspired from these movies and put them into your own movies. Of course, there's some Marvel movie, there's going to be visual effects. There's a part where they like there's scenes that that are practical, but the visual effects are in the background.
Casey G. Smith: Yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Like in the Korean, like in the Korean uh, what was it? Busan, South Korea. So everything's practical, but those visual effects are in the background. You can't your eyes can't really tell kind of what's going on.
Casey G. Smith: That's true.
Casey G. Smith: Well, even in the opening scene when they're in Oakland, uh that with the basketball court and the apartment they're at across the street. The building is is is the is the church where Martin Luther King was uh either he was buried at or kind of where his memorial was done. And they even said like one of his his daughter, I think, came up to them.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's right.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, yeah, one of the first times they were shooting and said that was like really surreal. But, you know, the visual effects people kind of, you know, dolled it up and and made it look different. And so, again, we we can't tell. But it's just it's pretty incredible what what they can do and how they can make things look like whatever they needed to look like. And even even when they're when they go to see the Jabari tribe, when they're trying to seek refuge away from Killmonger, that was done in Atlanta. And they brought in this snow or these snow effects as as a practical effect. And and made that happen. And then, you know, just...
Reginald Titus Jr.: It grounds it in the realness when you combine the visual effects and um practical effects. Sometimes you can go overboard with CGI. And even in this film, you know, not too many times, but, you know, during the fight sequence at the end, the CGI kind of went overboard.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, just yeah, when you had the the both of them falling down the Vibranium shaft into the mind. Yeah, it's a little bit, yeah, it becomes a little little little bit much. I I would've I would've liked to have seen Killmonger even without the costume fighting T'Challa. I mean, it would have been a fair fight, but I just I I I liked I loved the design of Killmonger's tactical uniform. Hasbro, if you're listening, we need a Killmonger tactical uniform Marvel Legends figure, I'm just saying. Like that that that would have sold like crazy. They sent him in in in his, you know, some call it the Golden Jaguar, and in his Black Panther costume, it's cool. But Killmonger just he's such a unique-looking character. Put him in that tactical suit. You're welcome.
Reginald Titus Jr.: All checks go to KCG Productions.
Casey G. Smith: Hear, hear. Hear, hear.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, yeah, so we're not going to attack the VFX too much. You know, just, hey, we didn't notice and it's and it's interesting how your brain picks it up automatically. Even though people are paying millions of dollars for these visual effects, but your brain still picks it up. And it's like, and your brain makes the decision.
Casey G. Smith: Well, it's that that, you know, that uncanny valley, right? Sometimes sometimes we're really close to crossing over. And again, sometimes we have and don't even notice it. Again, like stuff in the background. But then there's there's sometimes certain things where it's it's really tough to see. Like, you know, when we watch Avengers Infinity War with Thanos, yo, like every time I see him, I'm like, "Whoa." Like he doesn't...
Reginald Titus Jr.: He doesn't look like an effect.
Casey G. Smith: No. But it it makes me think how how much time did the visual effects houses spend on Thanos and did they pass him around? Like they do certain other things or did they like, "Hey, we're going to spend a good year on this guy?" Versus, what's the guy from DC? The Spider-Man...
Reginald Titus Jr.: Steppenwolf.
Casey G. Smith: Steppenwolf. Yeah. Dear God.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Like that looked like a computer game.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, that that was a whole debacle. I mean, they they've had they had multiple things.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And they have millions of dollars as well, you know, they have millions of dollars. So it's about, okay, who's responsible for that department and how are they able to execute?
Casey G. Smith: And are they are they are they being rushed?
Reginald Titus Jr.: To make a change, like, you know, as a director, you're the you're the head of this. So you see a shot that you don't necessarily like. It could be something like say Ryan didn't he noticed it too, you know, the scene's like, "I didn't really like that." What's it going to take to change it? Two months? Let's keep it. Because we got to meet the deadline. You know, certain decisions have to be made and, you know, they're not going to probably give that up, but...
Casey G. Smith: Uh-huh.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Let us know that it's unfinished and see if they can get by.
Casey G. Smith: Right. And that's yeah, and there have been, um, you know, some films that have been released with un really unfinished visual effects. The crazy thing with Infinity War is that they moved it up a week for release.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Why? Was it because Black Panther was doing so well and they were riding that wave? Because I did notice in the trailer, they were putting a little bit, you know, some of the Black Panther stuff, you know, this is featuring Black Panther and all that.
Casey G. Smith: You see what I'm saying? They they they were working on Infinity War before Black Panther came out. They didn't know like Marcus and McFeely, the two main writers for Infinity War. They had no idea Black Panther was going to do that well because they've they've already shot Avengers Infinity Avengers Infinity Avengers Part 4. So Part 3 and Part 4 were shot back-to-back. They were shot together.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, got you. So the next two Avengers movies have already been shot, is that what you're saying?
Casey G. Smith: This it's it's in post-production now. There'll be some pick-ups later on, but they shot both movies together. So Wakanda being in there...
Reginald Titus Jr.: So the next two Avengers movies have already been shot. Got it. Got it.
Casey G. Smith: But they did they were working on this years ago. Before, I mean, honestly, coming off of Civil War. I got you. They started working on the Avengers Infinity War and and the and the follow-up. So they had no idea what Black Panther was going to do, how it was going to be received. They just lucked out that, okay, we're going to move the battle to Wakanda. And it turned out the way that it did and those characters would have that much FaceTime.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So were those scenes, we'll quick spoiler alert, by the way, if you haven't seen Avengers Infinity War, in case we go. You need to stop watching movies. We haven't gone into anything that's major spoiler, but we just might. So heads up, spoiler alert. And of course, Black Panther. Spoiler alert. Always. You know how we do. Sorry.
Casey G. Smith: Right, right, right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Got to get used to saying that.
Casey G. Smith: That's true. That's true.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You should know better if you this episode 21.
Casey G. Smith: Shame. No, I'm just kidding. No shame. Keep keep tuning in.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right, right, right. That's funny.
Reginald Titus Jr.: For Infinity War, those sequences were they shot before the Black Panther sequences? Really?
Casey G. Smith: Some some.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So the war, excuse me. So the Black Panther sequences, the and Wakanda, in Infinity War, those were shot before.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, okay, sorry. So some of those may have been shot because they would have had to get the the look and the feel of it down. So some of them some of them may have been done like kind of in tandem. And then they would have it would have been interesting for a production schedule standpoint because they would have to have gotten the look and feel of Wakanda down and then have known when to bring in, you know, Chris Evans and and some of the other actors to shoot some of those scenes. Because there's a lot of CGI.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I can only imagine that's just being in that world, like that's your life for two years, for five years, three years. Like my life is about Marvel right now. Like I'm not doing anything else. I'm going to get sleep, then learn my lines or I'm going to go to sleep and get back on this post-production. Like that's my life.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. I mean, especially for the directors, man. For again, they said when when Josh Whedon got done with the second Avengers movie, like when like he was like he he was he was beat up. Like he was he was people almost said he was limping around and but I think I think with the Russos, I think something being about being a a two-team duo that's made it easier for them. And even with the writers, again, the writers are a two-team duo. Again, Marcus and McFeely. Yeah, listening to interviews from from them. I I really enjoy hearing hearing them talk about the process and the changes of the draft and figuring out, you know, who would progress what way and what to keep, what not to keep. But yeah, so but yeah, they I think about that. I think about that. Especially I was listening to an episode of, who was it? Any film hustle with the Duplass brothers. And like these um, these true bona fide teams and how they like kind of split amongst each other. My brother, the first film that I ever done was with my older brother. Oh, yeah. And there's like a shortcut because you know, you know, having a sibling that they know you on a different level than anybody else. Like I can be like extra goofy and we can just take goofy to another level. Right. And then and he's like a good partner in comedy for my comedy stuff that we were doing. And so and I I kind of noticed like with the Coen brothers and like how like in regular life they may not be like funny and stuff like that, but at together as a team they're able to kind of turn up the quirkiness and things like that. Same thing with Duplass brothers.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. And experiencing it.
Casey G. Smith: Well they're shor- short-hand.
Casey G. Smith: I think maybe you feel a level of safety because you almost have um you have a kind of an affirmation that something is funny. And a lot of times you know, people when they make stuff, partly for themselves, right? If this makes if this makes me feel this way or that way, then hopefully others will buy into it. But when you have a partner you're doing that with, if they react or laugh to it, you're like, okay, if I I know this person, I got them to react this way, then all right, this must be good.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And it's not and almost it's almost like you don't care about the rest of the world. So it's like, if I make my brother laugh, I'm good. You know, like how like with the Wayans brother, if I can make Shawn laugh, I'm good.
Casey G. Smith: And see, and that's that's exactly the truth. That's what Marcus and McFeely talk about when they were writing for Infinity War. And saying that, you know, if we stopped and listened to all the fans and everything that they wanted, there's no winning because because for every fan that wants this to happen, another a set of fans want this to happen. So I said, you know, I said, we're fans ourselves, so we have to just kind of make it for ourselves, make it what we we're going to like and and and make number one a good film. And sometimes it means not making what you would want, maybe some things out. But just taking in the necessary input and going forward. Yeah, so I'm going back to Black Panther. I appreciate that Ryan Coogler would have research and pulled stuff from the different runs of the film. But at the same time, you know, this at the same time this movie is its own unique thing. And one of the things that they that one of the things that they do really well is that they allow T'Challa to be really more accessible um and vulnerable than than I've seen him in the comic books. Up until recently, in with uh Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, never going to win.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I did see one special feature and they were at a round table with Ryan Coogler and some of the other writers.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, he has a table. Yeah, he has a table. Yeah, he's at he's at the shaved head Ta-Nehisi from sorry for I'm butchering that first name, but Ta-Nehisi Coates. Yeah, so there's there's some inspiration being drawn. Uh the way he the way he writes Black Panther. He he made T'Challa very he made him more more vulnerable and there's stuff that goes down in in Wakanda and and things like that. But Ryan Coogler makes makes wrote T'Challa in a in a very vulnerable way. And we see in this film that, you know, he gets a lot of help from the women around him. But I think we have to speak to that a little bit, just the the also the the empowerment of this film for women in action kicking all kinds of butt. Danai Gurira, um to of course Lupita Nyong'o, uh Shuri, you know, Letitia Wright. Like this really empowers these women. And even like Coogler talks about at the end of the film when T'Challa takes the time to thank Nakia to thank Nakia for literally saving his life. You know, she went she she had stolen that herb. Yeah, he would have been out of there. Yeah, he would have died. He would have he would have, you know, in essence, died or or stayed, you know, just jacked up. His mother even going and asking for help, them being willing to offer up the herb to M'Baku. That was a pretty big deal. And in and in in M'Baku, you know, saying, you know, like refute him, not not taking it is is is fascinating. And of course, again, Okoye throughout the whole film is just just taking people out left and right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, he would have been out of there.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Man, she was a beast.
Casey G. Smith: She was. So kudos to to Disney and Marvel and Ryan Coogler for letting these women shine and not be the damsels in distress.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, not at all.
Casey G. Smith: They were bosses.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Not at all. So, previz, another point. Previz. Previz is important. What is previz, you ask? Well, let me tell you. It stands for pre-visualization. It's a function to visualize a complex scene in a movie before actually filming it. So you can do this by like software, storyboarding, animation. So there's a a scene when Claw shoots the vehicle and it like disintegrates and then Okoye, right? She's flying through the air cuz she was riding on top of the car. So she's flying through the air and like reaching to grab her her spear. Her eyes are like, "Oh big," it's like, "Is she going to get it? Is she going to grab it?" So they came up with this idea by now, he didn't say if they were using they have money, so I'm pretty sure it was animated and almost good enough to be a video game. So they're playing with these pre-visualizations. The thing with previz is that you can look at it from different angles. And so you can say, "Okay, let's look at it from the side, looks at it from the top. Let's." You can play with all these different angles. And the angle they end up coming with was the one where's the over-the-head shot and she's reaching to us, the viewer, but the spear is right there in the middle. But that was through previz. But you can do that yourself and, you know, by storyboarding or, yeah, whatever you want to do that. But there are there's some software out there where you can actually animate this stuff and it's things are cheaper now. You can you can buy some of this software for just a few hundred bucks.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And it's so important because that really helps you get a feel of number one, yeah, where is the viewer's perspective going to be? You know, what what are you going to allow them to see and experience. And again, you might get on set and that may that may change or you might get in post and that may change, but having a solid idea, at least at least where to start, I think is is is key.
Casey G. Smith: Oh.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Next, research. Now, if you have this luxury, please, research, spend time with your locations. Um there's a point that Ryan Coogler talks about when they were in Korea. They spent a lot of time with the team in Korea. And this was what generated more ideas. So that generated the idea of the whole Korean scene being a hiding in plain sight type of shot where it's like, "Hey, that would be cool if this they just go in there and it's like you have to be dressed up and doing all this stuff." That came around just from researching and checking all these locations out.
Casey G. Smith: Absolutely. And again, there was again, ample research. They had an actual production bible for Black Panther. Initially, it was some 500 pages worth. And they they narrowed it down to a slim 300, but that's a lot of research. And even again, with some of these characters, Coogler mentions with Nakia's character that uh that she takes some influence from Harriet Tubman.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's right. With the robe over her head and everything.
Casey G. Smith: Right, and that, you know, how she's a a spy. And one more thing I didn't know, he he mentioned that Harriet Tubman uh became a a spy for the Union after, of course, she freed a lot of slaves through the Underground Railroad. So the scene where again, where Nakia has led Ramonda and Everett out of Wakanda and into the one of the Jabari tribe is at. That's a that's a call back to to Harriet Tubman.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And to juxtapose that with Killmonger and T'Challa actually falling down to an Underground Railroad.
Casey G. Smith: Holy smokes. Meta.
Reginald Titus Jr.: But definitely, there's there's there's loads of loads of research that uh that went into this film. I mean, obviously a long rich history of of the comic books and even bringing in bringing in Killmonger's character. Um, but looking at different areas of of of Africa. I mean, they they shot obviously in South Africa. Uh, there were also other locations that they they took in while they were there um in South Africa. And so it's just amazing. You have to think about, you know, uh uh Zambia and Uganda. Even think about like the the language that they they they chose to use and to go with and they they took a good amount of the influence from the the first lead actor that played T'Challa in Civil War, he kind of set the stage for the the foundation of of what they would use for uh what they would speak in Wakanda. And so that was again set up back in back in Civil War, which, you know, would kind of be I guess, partly with the with the Russos and, you know, kind of in that aspect. So, just so much to do something like this that is in a again another place and and then not a real place. So you've got this. You're pulling from real places to to ground it. Exactly. So you have the language from the South Africa, um I can't think of the name of the language. You have that, but then you also have the actual composer of the movie who traveled to Africa as well to get to to learn more about the instruments. You know, what's it called? The drum that they're using that sounds like a voice. I can't think of the name of it, but there the drum sounds like a language that they're playing. But incorporating all those sounds into the actual score of the movie. Oh yeah, which, man, the the score for this film, man, I love it, man. I the sounds. And again, both the the soundtrack and the score. Like how difficult is that to how do you incorporate like an amazing score and then find room to include the soundtrack? You know, cuz you got, you know, Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd playing during the casino scene, but then it cuts to the score when they get the fight going. Then at the end of the movie, you got another like animated sequence with another Kendrick Kendrick Lamar, uh song and SZA. And it's like, this is just awesome. This is a black movie. It don't get no blacker than this. It's the blackest movie of the year. Hell yeah. Hands down. We'll take the blackest thing you have and make it a double. There you go. That's what they did and it's and it turned out beautiful. But yeah, it's and then you have the themes for the characters. I mean, and even when they meet, like when when when Killmonger and T'Challa like first meet in the throne room and they're kind of feeling each other out. And and some things are are are are being spoken where everybody can hear. Some things are kind of being kind of whispered. And it's like a mixture of their themes kind of coming together in that moment. It's like, oh man, this is yeah, just uh just love it. Um use a visual contrast. So we talked about this before in um Cadillac Records. From the first scene when he was, you know, on a plantation, then going to Chicago, showing the difference. Here, we uh Ryan Coogler uses colors to do this.
Casey G. Smith: Oh.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So Michael B. Jordan's character, you know, has all the blues. Every like in the cinematographer and the production designers finding ways to put blue into his outfit, into the exact set. And then the then the cinematographer's finding ways to give a blue hue to the whole movie. Then you contrast that with the colors that the the warriors are wearing.
Casey G. Smith: And the scene.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right.
Casey G. Smith: Right, so the Dora Milaje, they're almost they're always wearing red. And then with Nakia, she's from the water tribe, but they they rock green. And so she's always wearing green. And of course, T'Challa, he's always wearing black, obviously, he's the Black Panther. And specifically when we have the scene in Korea where they're they're going to infiltrate. Okoye has on a red dress. Nakia has on a green dress. Black Panther, he's got on a black suit. And he said between the three of them, they make up the uh kind of make up the colors of the the Pan-African uh flag. I'm like, "Oh, I didn't catch that." So like that one in there. Yes, they did. Yes, they did. And then of course, with a lot of the characters from, you know, well countries that are colonized, they're often wearing blue. And blue is is is throughout the movie, the the the color of colonization. So even when Killmonger's wearing blue, he's coming from a colonized country. The European diaspora. Mm-hm. So it's fascinating the the the layers and the meanings behind it can just the colors that that are used. And of course, with with Zuri, um a lot of the the priests and those who have the spiritual ties to Wakanda, they wear purple. And of course, that ties right back into the Vibranium even how it runs it runs purple. And so with with the Black Panther, especially with that new costume, it makes sense that it would be black and purple because he has these multiple ties not only being king but a warrior, but he's also tied into the spiritual aspects of Wakanda.
Reginald Titus Jr.: The UN.
Reginald Titus Jr.: The only other thing is um kind of going along with visualization is using like visual cues. Like the um the when Michael B. Jordan's character is setting everything on fire and you see the two Panthers kind of looking at each other as he's looking at everything burn up and that's showing that there's two Black Panthers right now.
Casey G. Smith: Right. There's still another one. Still another one out there. That there's hope for T'Challa to return. And even once he gets on the throne in the next this I'm kind of the continuation of the scene, but then in the next shot in that scene, as it also as the camera goes from upside down to right side up, it's like, yeah, this is this is this is how it's going down. This is how it's going to be. To me it feels like that for Killmonger, it feels like he's his his his upside down view that he's kind of setting things right. For everybody else, he's turning the world upside down. Yeah. When I see that's what made me think like, "Oh."
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's another visual cue. It's another visual cue of like, how does that make you feel looking at the movie upside down for a second?
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, this is this is how it's going to be. This is that that this is like, this is that like, that's what that's what made me think like, "Oh."
Reginald Titus Jr.: The only movie that I remember off top was a movie called Devil. Uh uh M. Night Shyamalan, I think he produced that one. And the opening sequence is upside down. Like the whole opening sequence is upside down.
Casey G. Smith: There's a a scene in uh in in Looper. When we watch that, right? With with Jo or maybe maybe the camera's just spinning, but there's something after he's put those drops in his eyes and he's kind of going out with his boys. There's a twist.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, yeah. It's twist. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was some twisting going on there. But yeah, it's always fascinating. I think I think it's something you have to use I think sparingly. But when used right, it it can definitely bring a certain kind of effect. And even the way that Killmonger is kind of he's kind of a little gangster. Yeah, like I'm the king now.
Reginald Titus Jr.: He's like, you know, he's a little swagger. What they say on TMZ, he's just swagging his way through the whole movie. He can do no wrong.
Casey G. Smith: Man, can we we we got to mention Michael B. Jordan's just his performance as Killmonger. Because this is a guy who we've seen as the good guy, as the hero. I've I've followed Michael B. Jordan's career from uh from him being on The Wire to Friday Night Lights, which if you haven't seen the show Friday Night Lights, man, he he comes in, I want to say it's third season. And yes, just wow. And then of course, Chronicle. Well, that's where I really saw his charisma come through. When he's he's playing, I think it's the character's name is Steve, and he's like just the popular guy. And he's just bursting with charisma. Of course, you know, we get we get Fruitvale Station, showing his dramatic chops. Then we get Creed. Obviously, you know, this is the third film of Coogler and Jordan connecting, and it's obviously a fantastic combo. Um but then we get him as as Erik Killmonger. And he's tactical. He's smart. Even his introduction in the in in that museum and he even tells the lady, you know, you're so worried about, you know, what's going on outside, you don't even think about what you put in your body. Yeah. And you know, poison. He's like, "Oh, she needs help." And he's like just just a whole just set up. And then when he grabs the mask, and Coogler made it very interesting comment about this. When when Killmonger grabs the mask, that mask is made uh it's an amalgamation, it's a combination of everything from, you know, the the the antelope uh horns to the kind of the the face of of a of a maybe a monkey or an ape or some kind of primate, to or Rang-O-Tang. Sorry. It's just a it's a funny word. To the the main of a lion around it. It's an amalgamation. But then we look at Killmonger, he himself is an amalgamation. He's born in America, he is of Wakandan descent. He's he's, you know, maybe growing up maybe maybe poor and without parents, yet he's tied into this rich potential, you know, heritage of of of of family and and freedom in Wakanda. And to, you know, to to maybe get to a place where he can finally feel peace, he has to kill a bunch of people. When we see him kind of take off his his his his shirt and his tactical gear to fight T'Challa at Warrior Falls, all those marks on him, he's not he's not like necessarily bragging about them, but he's saying, you know, this is like a, you know, this is the pain that I had to put myself through and others through to get here, to to sharpen my mind, to get to this point to do this. This was all a journey of pain to hopefully maybe have some peace. So maybe that's why he has that swag kind of going in the throne like, "I made it. I made it here." And he's got and he's got the Vibranium now like flowing through him. I can only imagine how he would feel. Like literally on top of the world. Only he can swag and murder women like that and still come out un-scathed.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith: Man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Only Michael B. Jordan can pull that off.
Casey G. Smith: Right. Because yeah, when he picked up that priestess, you know, what I say that, I mean it. Like. Man, Killmonger is just. Yeah, I have not seen that one. I have not seen that one. I actually, I haven't seen in IMAX 3D yet. I want to see it in IMAX 3D, which...
Reginald Titus Jr.: I have not seen that one. I have not seen that one. I I'm going to go back and watch those. How long has it been? I don't think I even saw. I saw, I went back and saw the first one, but the second one is when he's like, oh, he's he's made it, right? That's the one he's like fly, that's the third one. Third one, yeah. With Clubber Lang, Mr. T. That's the third one. Second one is the rematch. Because the end of the first one, he loses to Apollo. The second one, he uh he gets he gets no the Rady because he went he went the distance with the champ. And so he starts to get some opportunities at the same time. Adrian's pregnant, but it leads up to the rematch with with Apollo. Okay. Um and the third one, yeah, he's made it. He's the man and he is shredded. He's then he gets he gets lean for that one, right? He didn't get just lean, Reginald. He is shredded. Like like nobody fat. When you when you see like how he looks in this in this film, him and Carl Weathers, but if Mr. T, my God, these guys are I mean, like I'm talking like nobody fat. Like just you can see castles and her castles just like bam. But yeah, he's gotten so big where he's you know, he's got the money and the nice cars. Like, you know, they think he's driving the Lamborghini at this point. And gets a little soft and that's when, you know, Clubber Lang shows up. And I I love Mr. T's performance in Rocky 3. Like I I I don't think he gets enough credit for how awesome he is. He is just kind of like like Killmonger is in Black Panther. He's like if he has this charm to him, Mr. T has he has this intensity and just his lines, man. He says this one line to Apollo that to this day is one of my favorite lines in all of cinema. When they're when Creed and and Rocky are, I mean, when uh Clubber Lang and Rocky are getting set to fight. Apollo is there kind of as, you know, you know, just celebrity status. He kind of is in the ring and they're they're recognizing him and he goes to each one to shake their hands and he goes over to Clubber Lang first and Clubber Lang looks at him and says and knocks his hand away and he says, "Get away from me, Creed. You ain't got nothing I want anymore." And the smile on Apollo's face is drops and and and Clubber Lang tells him. He says, "You better get that that frown off your face before I knock it off your face." And Creed just, you know, stays very, you know, PC and walks back over to Rocky and says, "Hey, do me a favor," you know, "drop this bum." And he's like, "Yeah, he's a bum." Man, Clubber Lang is just. Yeah, I have not seen that one. I've not seen that one. I went back I didn't see the first one then. I didn't see the first one then. I remember that scene. Yeah, so the very first one, First Blood, he literally is a guy who comes into a small town in he's a Vietnam War uh veteran. And he just comes across a small town and just finds himself just getting into it kind of with local the local authorities and gets kind of chased up into the woods and starts his following back on his military training. And it's it's it's a very it's a very small very independent kind of film feeling to it. But yeah, but it's not what the like the big spectacle was of the of the Rambos. And there's some of the it's called First I think First Blood is the name of the film. Wow. And I didn't know that until I went back and I'm like, how do I not see this? And again, same thing that happened with I had seen Aliens, but I hadn't I hadn't seen Alien until later. And so it's fascinating to see the early beginnings, but yeah, it's uh Sly Stone. Give that man credit. Yeah, I I really I really wish he had of uh won that Oscar for best supporting actor for for Creed. Who won that year? I want to say maybe it might have been Ray is it Ray Fincher for um Creed get anything that year? Let's see. Now for one Oscar, another 46 wins, 61 nominations. So nothing at the Academy. Now not Academy Awards. Um, it was it was just a it was nominated for best supporting best performance by an actor in a supporting role by Sylvester Stallone.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh my God, you have a Polish you off. I didn't mean that. That's not what I meant. That's that's a Hulk in a hop to buy. Like I can't I can't unsee that. That's that's that's a wild ride, man. You talk about that is a movie going experience. Like seeing that the theater I was like, "Wow, man, yeah, yeah." Just fun. Man, that's a fun, fun film. So if you saw Infinity War and you got a little down, go back and watch Thor Ragnarok. Let that let that lift your spirits.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, give me that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Give that man credit.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. Yeah. I really I really wish he had of won that Oscar for best supporting actor for for Creed. Who won that year? I want to say maybe it might have been Ray is it Ray Fiennes for um Creed get anything that year? Let's see. Now for one Oscar, another 46 wins, 61 nominations. So nothing at the Academy. Now not Academy Awards. Um, it was it was just a it was nominated for best supporting best performance by an actor in a supporting role by Sylvester Stallone.

Final Takeaways and Impact of Black Panther
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's a political award. Wait your turn. Okay, it was it was Mark Rylance. He won best uh performance by an actor in a supporting role for Bridge of Spies. not yeah for Bridge of Spies. So he beat out Stallone for...
Casey G. Smith: And he didn't even heard of that movie.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. That was a movie with Tom Hanks in it. Came out again, 20 2015. Did you watch it?
Casey G. Smith: No. I had no no interest in in watching that one. Spielberg, Spielberg film.
Reginald Titus Jr.: He directed that one?
Casey G. Smith: Mm-hm.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Old Spielberg, still at it. Um, next film, Panic Room. I haven't seen Panic Room. Let's do Panic Room. Okay. Yeah, because you've mentioned that to me multiple times. And um yes, I'd like I'd like to see that. All right, all right, all right. So next week, when you tune in to Filmmaker Commentary, we're going to review David Fincher's Panic Room. Oh yeah. Thank y'all for listening in. If you're listening to this on iTunes, please leave a review. Stitcher, we're also on Facebook, uh facebook.com/filmmakercommentary. Leave some comments there. Also, if you have ideas on movies you would like us to review, you know, put your comments there. Also, just when you recommend these movies, make sure that it has commentary on it. Haha. Appreciate that and peace out.
Casey G. Smith: Peace.