“I always wanted to work in Spanish and never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that such an opportunity would come in ‘Black Panther'”
‘Black Panther‘ marked a before and after in the representation of African and Afro-American culture in superhero movies, and its sequel ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ has gone a step further by bringing to light a new superhero, Namor, of Mesoamerican origins and closely linked to indigenous and Latin American culturewith Tenoch Huerta being a reference.
The decision to broaden cultural influence allowed Lupita Nyong’o will integrate Spanish into her rolemore specifically when her character Nakia searches for information about Namor and his underwater empire. Nyong’o, born in Mexico City to Kenyan parentshailed the opportunity as a “gift” during an interview for Entertainment Weekly. “She was very excited,” she said. “It was simply a gift. And she was very, very happy to oblige… I always wanted to work in Spanish, and never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that such an opportunity would come in ‘Black Panther’.”
Nyong’o explained that the film “represents different aspects of my heritage”. âBeing born in Mexico and having that Mesoamerican culture represented is something that is very close to me,â she added.
The late Chadwick Boseman, emotionally remembered in ‘Black Panther 2’, was also very much on board with the idea of ââexpanding the cultures represented.. Writer/director Ryan Coogler recounted how he had pitched the idea of ââincluding the town of Talokan to Boseman and that he was “really excited”: “I remember we were in a restaurant in Los Feliz [Los Ăngeles] the first time we talked about the possibility of having Native American representation in the film. He flashed the biggest smile, like, ‘They’re never going to see this coming. Is incredible’“.
Source: Fotogramas

Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.