Black Panther is already a box office hit – but now there is something else that makes the movie even more special and that is realising that the cast is connected in more ways than one.
Unless you have been living under a rock you will be aware of the buzz the latest Marvel movie has been gaining, and the Ryan Coogler movie is being praised for the on-screen chemistry of the cast.
The latest offering from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe was described by Metro.co.uk as ‘undeniably, unapologetically African as it centers itself around #blackexcellence, taking the popular hashtag straight from social media to the big screen’.
After a super-fan pointed out in a lengthy Twitter thread that ‘most of the key players in Black Panther are connected somehow’, this little piece of trivia has made it even more beautiful for us.
The People Vs Black Panther
Sterling K Brown and Cuba Gooding Jr. in The People vs OJ Simpson (Picture: FX Networks)
Director Ryan Coogler opens up the movie with Sterling K Brown’s character N’Jobu’s who is seemingly up to no good.
The This Is Us actor previously starred as lawyer Christopher Darden in The People vs OJ Simpson: American Crime Story.
The Emmy award-winning crime anthology, which also won a Gloden Globe, was written by Joe Robert Cole.
Joe Robert Cole co-wrote Black Panther with Ryan Coogler.
The Power of Three: Michael B Jordan and Ryan Coogler
Ryan Coogler has a short CV.
His first feature film, Fruitvale Station, won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He also co-wrote and directed the seventh film in the Rocky film saga, Creed, and now Black Panther.
Fun Fact: All three films star Michael B Jordan, who plays Killmonger in Black Panther.
A little-known fact is that Forest Whittaker, who plays Zuri, produced Fruitvale Station.
Alas, the power of three!
Veterans in the game: Forest Whitaker and Angela Basset
Forest Whittaker played Angela Basset’s husband in Black Nativity, a retelling of the classic Chrismas story with an entirely black cast.
The musical drama, which also starred Tyrese Gibson, was released in 2013 and was not the first time the pair worked together.
Angela, who plays Black Panther’s mother, starred alongside Whitney Houston in 1995’s Waiting To Exhale, which was directed by – yup, you guessed it – Forest!
Fun Fact: Waiting To Exhale was also an all-star black cast.
Seems as if the pair have a taste for working on progressive projects together.
Black Panther Mirror: Letitia Wright and Daniel Kaluuya
Oscar Nominee Daniel Kaluuya and Letitia Wright are both British actors from London who starred in separate episodes of Black Mirror.
Daniel, who is known for his performance in Get Out, plays W’Kabi in Black Panther but will be known by Black Mirror fans as Bing in Season 1’s Fifteen Million Merits.
Letitia stars in the sixth episode of the fourth series of anthology series as Nish.
Melanin Popping: Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira
Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o, plays Nakia, starred in Broadway Eclipsed after winning her gong.
Eclipsed is a play written by Danai Gurira. It takes place in 2003 and tells the story of five Liberian women and their tale of survival near the end of the Second Liberian Civil War.
It became the first play with an all-black and female creative cast and team to premiere on Broadway.
Danai Gurira went on to co-star alongside Lupita in Black Panther as General Okoye.
Both actresses are of African descent, with Lupita being from Kenya and Danai from Zimbabwe.
From school friends to co-stars: M’Baku and Nakia
Winston Duke, who plays scene-stealer M’Baku arrival to Black Panther shares scenes with Lupita’s character Nakia.
But that’s not all that they share.
Turns out Winston, who previously appeared in Modern Family, and Lupita were friends at Yale University where they both studied drama.
They were both members of Folks, an acting club on campus for students of colour.
And finally …
It doesn’t end there.
The club that Lupita and Winston attended was founded by Angela Basset.
Of course, because Angela is the Queen of everything, not just the Queen Mother of the fictional Wakanda.
During the first cast dinner for the Marvel movie, Duke made sure to seek Bassett out and thank her for the legacy she had left behind at Yale.
Fun Fact: Angela met her husband Courtney Vance at Yale.
Courtney starred alongside Sterling K.Brown in the People Vs OJ Simpson – which takes us back to the start of this list.