‘Black Panther’ Cast Remember Boseman Ahead of ‘Wakanda Forever’

Chadwick Boseman arrives at the 47th AFI Life Achievement Award gala honoring actor Denzel Washington in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 6, 2019. REUTERS/Monica Almeida/File Photo
Chadwick Boseman arrives at the 47th AFI Life Achievement Award gala honoring actor Denzel Washington in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 6, 2019. REUTERS/Monica Almeida/File Photo
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‘Black Panther’ Cast Remember Boseman Ahead of ‘Wakanda Forever’

Chadwick Boseman arrives at the 47th AFI Life Achievement Award gala honoring actor Denzel Washington in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 6, 2019. REUTERS/Monica Almeida/File Photo
Chadwick Boseman arrives at the 47th AFI Life Achievement Award gala honoring actor Denzel Washington in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 6, 2019. REUTERS/Monica Almeida/File Photo

The cast and director of the upcoming sequel to Marvel Studios blockbuster "Black Panther" paid tribute to their late co-star Chadwick Boseman on Saturday and said they worked through their grief while making the new film.

Lupita Nyong'o, Letitia Wright and other stars appeared at the Comic-Con pop culture convention in San Diego to preview "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," which is slated to hit theaters in November.

Boseman, who played the title character in the 2018 film, died of cancer at age 43 two years after the movie's release, prompting a rewrite of the next installment.

Director Ryan Coogler recalled watching scenes from the first "Black Panther" with Boseman at an earlier Comic-Con and the actor gripping his shoulder with excitement, Reuters reported.

"I promise you I can feel his hand on me right now," Coogler said. "His spirit, his passion, his genius, his pride in his culture, and the impact he made on his industry, it will be felt forever."

The cast and creators embraced in a hug on stage after fans were shown a trailer that revealed the fictional kingdom of Wakanda grappling with the loss of their former leader. The scenes were met with resounding applause.

"Sharing this trailer was cathartic and very highly emotional," Nyong'o told Reuters after the presentation. "We've all been through quite a bit."

Wright said several scenes in the new film were fueled by the cast dealing with the loss of Boseman.

"Those are raw emotions that you saw in that trailer," Wright said. "We weren't faking. It was real because we feel so deeply and we are grieving so deeply."



A Small Serbian Town Is Home to Robin Hood in a New TV Series 

Showrunner John Glenn poses with director Jonathan English prior to an interview. (AP) 
Showrunner John Glenn poses with director Jonathan English prior to an interview. (AP) 
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A Small Serbian Town Is Home to Robin Hood in a New TV Series 

Showrunner John Glenn poses with director Jonathan English prior to an interview. (AP) 
Showrunner John Glenn poses with director Jonathan English prior to an interview. (AP) 

Villages and castles from 12th-century England came to life in a small town in Serbia for the filming of a new series about Robin Hood that has just wrapped in the landlocked country in southeast Europe.

The 10-episode take on England’s beloved medieval outlaw who, in lore, stole from the rich to give to the poor, comes from Lionsgate Television, and is expected to premiere on MGM+ in the US and parts of Europe later this year.

The Associated Press recently visited the set in Simanovci, the village which is home to a film studio and not far from the capital of Belgrade. Thorough research for the series was visible in the scenography and costumes, taking the cast — and the studio — back in time to the stony interiors of a candlelit castle, complete with stained-glass lancet windows.

The “sweeping, romantic adventure” offers a historically grounded look into how Robin Hood grew up to become an outlaw-turned-hero in the wake of the Norman conquest of England, the producers say.

“We actually show the beginning of Robin Hood,” producer, director and writer Jonathan English, who was a main driving force behind the project, said in an interview. “We start the story with him as a child.”

Self-described as a “huge fan of all things medieval,” English marveled at Robin Hood’s persistent global appeal.

“You can stop a pensioner on the streets of Belgrade and he knows who Robin Hood is. You can stop a teenager on the streets of Beijing, and they know who Robin Hood is,” he said.

Asked whether the story is still relevant, following countless cinematic and small-screen adaptations, English insisted that “it is incredibly relevant, probably more today than ... 50 years ago or 100 years ago, even.”

“It’s a story about class and the absolute tyranny of class, people who believe that they can have everything and control everything and can own everything and everybody else could just, you know, get lost,” he said. “There’s always been wealthy people, but now you have uber-rich people. And the divide between the uber-rich and the rest of the world is extraordinary now.”

The show’s plot centers strongly on the romance between Robin and Marian. He is a Saxon forester’s son and Marian is the daughter of a Norman lord but they overcome the divide to jointly fight for freedom and against injustice.

Australian actor Jack Patten plays Robin, joined by Lauren McQueen as Marian. The two appear alongside Sean Bean as the notorious Sheriff of Nottingham, and Connie Nielsen, who plays Eleanor of Aquitaine, the queen of England and wife of Henry II.

Patten admitted he was nervous ahead of his “third gig since getting out of drama school.” His Robin is “any young 24-year-old ... trying to find his place in the world” and who “gets dealt some pretty tricky cards.”

McQueen said Marian’s character will be “quite empowering” for young women watching the series.

Filmed in multiple locations in Serbia and with hundreds of staff and crew, the series is “huge” even by Hollywood standards, showrunner and writer John Glenn said. He described the new show as “much more Peaky Blinders in tone” than previous incarnations, referring to the hit UK TV series about gangsters in 1920s Birmingham.

Both Glenn and English said they chose Serbia because of high-standard facilities and crews but also because of the natural scenery that could mimic a medieval English landscape.

“It’s hard to find ancient forests now in England,” English said. “There’s not a lot of undeveloped wilderness.”