Winston Duke has become of the most recognized faces in the world due to his role in this year's Black Panther film. Even for those who may not know his name immediately, seeing his face will take millions around the world back to the waterfall battle scene between Duke's M'Baku and Black Panther. In a recent interview with GQ, Duke revealed that he didn't even know he was trying out for Black Panther when he went to audition. In fact, he also auditioned for a Star Wars film that he didn't realize was the popular space epic until all was said and done.
"I auditioned for [a movie with fake sides] that literally looked nothing like it would be for a space-opera adventure," Duke explained in the interview. "Nothing that even seemed very futuristic. It felt more like a buddy-cop comedy. Kind of like 48 Hours. I found out months later it was a Star Wars audition." The same circumstance happened to him when auditioning for Black Panther.
"I was told by my agent and representative that I was going in for an “untitled Marvel project.” I had no idea what I was auditioning for," he revealed. "I didn’t know what I was auditioning for until…maybe the third round of auditions. It was a director’s session, with [writer-director] Ryan Coogler and [executive producer] Nate Moore in the room. That’s when I realized it was Black Panther."