Ryan Coogler says that Chadwick Boseman was the most focused person that he’s ever met.
The director of Sinners sat down with Matt Barnes for the All The Smoke podcast and explained what he learned from working with Boseman before his death.
“He changed my life bro,” said Coogler. “He was a meditator and a martial artist, and he was extremely in control of his ability to focus.”
“When you were with him, he wasn't the type of dude to be checking his phone and be distracted,” Coogler continued. “He was the single most focused person I ever met.”
Coogler continued on, explaining that Boseman’s focus inspired him. “Looking back on it, it was incredible — and it’s something I aspire to. To be able to be that present with people,” revealed Coogler. “He would take deep breaths. If you gave him some information, I could see him locking in.”
Coogler and Boseman worked together on the incredibly successful superhero film Black Panther that came out in 2018. In a recent interview with LeBron James for Interview Magazine, Coogler reflected on what it was like to make the film.
“To be honest with you, Bron—and it’s one of my great regrets—I was so young while we were making it, and so stressed out, that I didn’t appreciate what was happening, man,” Coogler said to LeBron when asked to name the moment he realized the magnitude of what was happening. “There were a few moments where I’d be like, ‘Oh man, this shit is getting crazy.’”
As the film was being made, Coogler said that he was “dealing with impostor syndrome,” rendering him unable to soak everything in. “I couldn’t appreciate the moment,” he admitted.”
Back in 2021, Coogler opened up about returning to film Black Panther 2 after Boseman’s death in 2020 after a battle with colon cancer.
“It’s difficult. You’ve got to keep going when you lose loved ones. I know Chad wouldn’t have wanted us to stop,” he said. “He was somebody who was so about the collective. Black Panther, that was his movie. He was hired to play that role before anybody else was even thought of, before I was hired, before any of the actresses were hired. On that set, he was all about everybody else."
“Even though he was going through what he was going through, he was checking in on them, making sure they were good,” Coogler continued. “If we cut his coverage, he would stick around and read lines off camera [to help other actors with their performances]. So it would be harder for me to stop. Truthfully. I’d feel him yelling at me, like, ‘What are you doing?’ So you keep going.”