Wakanda Forever: Stars of Black Panther sequel say they hope actor Chadwick Boseman ‘would be proud’
After feeling “completely deflated” by Chadwick Boseman’s death, Lupita Nyong’o and Letitia Wright – who star in the Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever – have said they hope “he would be proud” of the new movie.
Two years on from Boseman’s death from colon cancer, aged just 43, the absence of King T’Challa himself on the black carpet at the London premiere was acutely felt as fans and photographers tried to catch a glimpse of the stars in Leicester Square.
Wright, who returns as Shuri, King T’Challa’s sister, told Sky News that he was at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts throughout the shoot.
She said: “I lost my brother, so for me, the most important thing was about thinking why? Why are we moving forward? What would he have wanted?
“And I feel very strongly under the guidance of our director that he would be proud of this. He would have wanted to see the next generation motivated and inspired, that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Nyong’o, who plays King T’Challa’s former lover Nakia, admitted returning to the set was hard.
(L-R) Martin Freeman, Florence Kasumba, Danai Gurira , Letitia Wright, Ryan Coogler, Lupita Nyong’o and Tenoch Huerta at the London premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
“At the beginning, when Chadwick died, I was just completely deflated and I had no idea how we could come back to Wakanda.”
Crediting the sensitive way in which director Ryan Coogler takes the story forward, she said “[he] pivoted the story to embrace that loss, he made it about exploring grief and how we move on from tragedy”.
A new addition to the franchise, I May Destroy You actress Michaela Coel, said she was a huge fan of the original and “the passion it ignited” in her.
(L-R) Chadwick Boseman played T’Challa in the 2018 Black Panther film, with director Ryan Coogler
She told Sky News: “I was giving cuddles, handing out tissues and making people laugh where I could.”
Joining the franchise as Aneka, a captain and combat instructor, she also credited filmmaker Coogler and his co-writer Joe Robert Cole in how they incorporated the great loss that everyone felt.
Read more:
Netflix and Howard University set up scholarship Boseman
Lupita Nyong’o leads tributes on one-year anniversary of actor’s death
Coel said: “A lot of women carry the heart of this movie but it’s written by two incredible men.
“What really blows my mind is how they were able to take their grief, process it and funnel it into a script that we could feel and understand…. it’s incredible and so respectful.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in cinemas from 11 November.
Taylor Swift has revealed the release date for her new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.
The pop megastar announced her 12th studio album earlier this week but didn’t give many details.
Now, in social media posts and an appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s sports podcast, Swift revealed just what fans can expect from the new album.
Taylor Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce on the New Heights podcast. Pic: New Heights
The Life of Showgirl, written during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras tour, will be released on 3 October.
It consists of 12 songs, including the title track that features pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
The full track list is:
1. The Fate Of Ophelia
2. Elizabeth Taylor
3. Opalite
4. Father Figure
5. Eldest Daughter
6. Ruin The Friendship
7. Actually Romantic
8. Wi$h Li$t
9. Wood
10. Cancelled!
11. Honey
12. The Life Of A Showgirl (featuring Sabrina Carpenter)
Long-time collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, two Swedish producers who worked with Swift on some of her biggest hits, joined the pop star for this album.
Within four hours of posting the full podcast episode on YouTube, it had already gathered 4.7m views.
The cover of Taylor Swift’s newly announced album. Pic: Republic Records
The back cover of Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album The Life Of A Showgirl. Pic: Republic Records
‘The hardest-working star in pop’
The album follows last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, which was released during the Eras tour.
That tour, with shows on five continents and in 51 cities, raked in more than $2.2bn (£1.62bn) and was the highest-grossing tour of all time.
Read more about Taylor Swift:
Swift’s final London show was the ‘best’
The impact of the ‘excruciating’ Era’s tour
Her new chart record
“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” Swift said during her podcast appearance.
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case.
A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared.
Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year.
The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year.
Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley’s case on 30 September.
He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were “transactional” and “consensual,” and labelled the women as opportunists.
Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.
Last year, however, New York’s highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein’s retrial this summer.
Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood – the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game.
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In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement.
Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California.
Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.
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