The Daily Show: Ears Edition - ICYMI - Chadwick Boseman on Throwing Passion Behind a Revolutionary Idea in "Black Panther" (Rebroadcast)

Episode Date: August 30, 2020

Actor Chadwick Boseman reflects on the many groundbreaking elements of "Black Panther" and explains why the film features a multitude of authentic African accents. Originally aired March 1, 2018. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Please welcome Chad Rick Bozeman! I didn't expect you to do that. What do you mean you didn't expect you to do that? Oh man. Oh, man. Oh, man. What do you mean? What do you mean? You didn't expect you to do that?

Everywhere you go now for the rest of your life. You are the great of Wakanda my friend congratulations. Congratulations. I've been a fan of yours for such a long time and I've watched you go from film to film and you've played some of the most iconic people on screen but there is something truly different and magical about this character. Could you feel it when you were making Black Panther? I think the whole cast, we knew how special this project could be. We knew what the comic book was.

We knew with the, you know, with the whole idea of this technologically advanced nation in Africa that, you know, essentially they're the oldest people on the planet. Right. That's that, that idea the idea that, the whole the whole that, th, th, the whole, th, th, th, the whole, th, the whole, th, th, the whole, th, thi the whole whole whole whole, thi thi, the whole whole whole, the whole, the whole, the whole, I the whole, I the whole whole whole whole whole whole whole, the whole, the whole, the whole, the whole, the whole, I the whole, I the whole, I the whole whole whole whole the whole the whole the whole the whole the whole, the whole the whole thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, thi, thi, you know, essentially they're the oldest people on the planet. Right. That idea that it was a revolutionary one that we knew we could throw a lot of our passion into. And we didn't know how people would receive it. We didn't know, you know, that it would be this sort of impact that we knew that it would be important to see a black superhero.

We knew that would be interesting. We knew that once people saw what these women were, that that would impact some people, but you don't know if that's going to be a niche group of people that love it. And you also don't know if it's going to, if the studio is going to put everything they can into it. I have to give Marvel credit and Disney credit

for, you know, throwing the book at it. Essentially, it's what they did. And that's really what they did. I mean, like the marketing worldwide, the way the story was presented, everyone on the cost. Because what made the story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story story presented, everyone on the cost. Because what made the story special was, I don't know if it was just me, it feels like Black Panther's powers come not just from his suit,

but from his people. From his tradition. From his tribe, from the women around him. It was really special to see a situation where it didn't feel like anyone was a side kink. It felt like everyone was part of a tmahahahahah that you were focusing on in the way you treated your stars and never seen? Absolutely. I felt like in order for him to be a good king, you know, one of the good signs of someone who was wise is that they disseminate responsibility. Right. So I felt that his father would have taught him, you know, use everybody's skills. Don't try to do everything. Right. You can't be everywhere at their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their tha. tha. tha. t. tree. tha. tree. tree. te. te. te. te. to be te. te. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. t. t. t. t. t. t. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te's skills. Don't try to do everything. You can't be everywhere at one time.

So it was important for denied to be as strong as she is. It was important for LuPita to be as strong as she is. And I felt like what we had as far as, you know, there's no real, I don't think there's a villain in this movie. I think you have two sides of the same coin, the killmonger story and the Tachala story. You know, we treated it that way. Michael and I kept ourselves separate and came together at certain points so that we could create this sort of tension on scene, but in the scenes.

It was a collaboration, collaboration I think for everybody That's an interesting idea that there was no there was no there was no villain It was two sides of a story. I mean more than ever in America right now People feel like oh, there's a villain. There's no villain. It feels like every story needs to have that, but that's what made black panthers so complicated. I won't give any spoilers A way, but it felt like a story where you truly the story. the story. the story. the story. the story. the story. the story. the the th. the th. the the the th. the th. the the the the the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their was. their was. there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there's there. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. There. there. there. there. there. there. there. there was was there was there was there was there was there was there was there was there was there was there was there was the the the th. th. th. th. there was there was th. there was there was there was there was there was there was there felt you just had to work on how you felt about what the how the people were trying to do what they were trying to do. Well it doesn't let anybody off the hook. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like and I think that's that's the key thing is that I think when you, everybody is the hero in their own story you know, you, you, you, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, you should be the hero on your own story. You should be, you should be, you know, you should see yourself conquering, you know, the dramatic action of whatever you're trying to do. So when you get the crisis, you know how to deal with it.

You should be able to do that. And there are people that come in and help you with your story, but you have to be the person who deals with the conflicts conflicts the conflicts th, you the conflicts th, you the conflicts th, you th, you the conflicts with that that that th. th. the conflicts with th. You the conflicts th. You the conflicts th. You th. You the conflicts th. You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you know, you, you know, you, you, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You, you. You. You, you. You. You. You, you. You, you. the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, to, to, to, to, the, to, the, to, to, the, the, the, the, but you have to be the person who deals with the conflicts that are in place. Nobody else can, there's no deuce ex machina who's gonna come in and save it for you. Even if you pray to God, God expects you to do some things. So I think you have to be that hero. I know that I felt that and I connected with so many of the characters in different ways, not just because of who they were and what they were doing, but also because of home. Like I was really impressed by the fact that everyone in the movie had an African accent. And what was cool was it was African accents from different places, you know, like Mbaku

had a Nigerian-inspired accent, you know, and Nekia had an accent that had flare, like a bit of a the Kenya and there and Tachala came out and there was a moment in the movie where I was watching you and I was like, why does this sound like a little bit of a young Nelson Mandela? There was like a, was there like a Cossa inspiration behind the accent? Absolutely, absolutely. My, my, you know, that was the, that was the sound of my dial. the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the sound, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, that was the sound of my dialect coach. And so I wanted that sound, specifically because I felt like the clicks are an indication like it's believed that the languages that have the clicks, they're among the oldest. Right. So I felt like that was a great sound for this, for this particular character. And, you know, the point that you just brought up

about each body, each person having a different sound, we felt like we were taking the continent and sort of closing it in, like compressing it and saying, everything that we love about the continent came from here. Right, right. So you can pull from every place, because there's a dispersion from this, from Wakanda. So yes, she could have a king thi this, a this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, this, this, about this, this, this, this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this this this this, about this, about this, about this, about this this, about this, about this, about this, about, about, about, about, about, about this body, about th, about this body, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, about this, thi, thi, thi, the thi, thi, they, thi, thi, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, the continent came from here. Right, right. So you can pull from every place because there's a dispersion from this, from Wakanda. So yes, she could have a King and hint in her accent. It also allows each actor to bring things that are close to them,

to the story. So as opposed to like some people might be like, well, you can't just have this generalized Africa where people are picking from anything they want............. th. th. So th. So th. So th. So th. So the th. So the th. So the th. th. the th. th. their their th. their their their th. their thoe about about about thi. So, thi. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so thi. So, thi. So, thi. So, thi. So, thi. So, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi. thi. thi. to toea. toea. And, toea. And, theyy. And, they. And, they. And, they. So, they. just have this generalized Africa where people are picking from anything they want. But if it becomes from an organic truth and an organic DNA, which is what we did, then everybody's on the same page, then it becomes something that is real. Was a part of you worried though that everyone having African accents would be something that like the studio or even moviegoers wouldn't gravitate towards? I wasn't worried.

So somebody was worried. Somebody was worried. I wasn't, yeah. Yeah, I wasn't worried because I had seen, you know, you know, I'd seen John Connie doing Shakespeare, you know what I'm saying? I'd seen, who plays my father in the film, I had seen the African Zulu Macbeth. You know, I'd seen that before. So I knew, I already knew it worked. I had seen that from my college years, that this could work. You know, other people hadn't seen that. So I knew that an African accent could carry all of that passion in the English language,

you know, just as well as a British one could, if not better. And so, you know, for me, there was a, when I heard things like, people can't listen to that, you know, for an entire film, if, you know, they were just talking about me doing it. I was like, no, we're going to go to a Wakanda one day. And if, in my mind, I was like, if I have a British accent right now, what's, what's going to happen? What's going to happen? I'm just picturing that cut out of the movie right now? th..... It, th. It, th. It, th. It, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. that. that. thi. th. th. th. th. th. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th. I was, th. I was, th. I was, th. I was, th. I was, th. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. th. I was, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, the the the th. And, the the the the the the the th. And, th. And, th. And, the rest of the nation is speaking with the British accent. I'm just picturing that scene. I'm just picturing that cut out of the movie right now. It's like Black Panther coming back and everyone's like, My King, you have a return.

He's like, well, hello, there. Yeah. Well, hello. Good to be back? When we were debating it, I had that nightmare. I had that nightmare. I was like, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, like, I, like, like, like, like, like, like, th. that, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, th, th, th. th, th, th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to, to. to. to. to. to. to, thee with so many people on so many levels. And one thing I really enjoyed was, I got to watch the film in New York City. I got to watch the film with many different people

from different walks of life. I watched how it touched many African Americans. What I also loved though was how that authenticity translated back to Africa, back to South Africa. I saw people back home who embraced the movie just as much as people did here, which is not an easy thing to do because Africans get portrayed in a certain way in film. And a lot of the time, I won't like, we watch movies and we're like, who are they trying to imitate right now? What part of Africa is this? But people loved it back home? People loved it in th th th th th th th th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. that, that, tho, that, thi. that, that, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thea, thea, thr. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. that something that was important for you? Did that tou tou tou tou?

I can't even put it to words what that feels like because because, you know, on both sides, as an African American and, you know, seeing people from the continent, I've seen a divide for my entire life. You know, I've, you know you know, grew up and I remember hearing the term African booty scratches as an insult. I remember that. And then I, and then I went through my face of trying to find Africa and not knowing, well, which place am I from, you know. And I've seen Africans who viewed us in a particular way where you're not connected.

You don't know where you're from. And at the same time, love parts of our culture. So there's like this weird, there's been this weird dynamic. You know, I don't know the oral tradition because I didn't grow up with it, you know, if I knew exactly where I came from growing up, I would have had an oral tradition from that place. I. I never had that. So this movie in a certain way creates a story that we all share. And it's the first time that's, I feel like, that's ever happened. I feel like, where it's like, okay, that's our story, too. I think part of that is because you have these two

characters who have this collision and they have to go through each other and find out about each other. So even in fighting there's a there's a sense of kinship among them and I think it's portrayed on screen where people accept it. It's portrayed, it's welcomed, it's electric, and it's gonna make billion dollars plus. So, congratulations. It's so amazing having you on the show. Thank you for everything they've done.

I appreciate you. Black Panther is in theaters now. Chadwick Bozeman everyone. The Daily Show with Cover Noa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central Act. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show.

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I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17.