Black Panther is now four days away from its official worldwide theatre premiere and one of the leading stars, Lupita Nyong'o, opens up to Allure magazine about working on set and her "extremely special" experience.
The 34-year-old tells the publication how director Ryan Coogler approached her to be in the movie, giving her a spiel on the premise. She initially asked him if it was a real idea that had been "green-lighted" by Marvel, where Ryan said, "Yeah, I can’t believe it.”
"On set, it was just such an inspirational experience because so much thought was put into this film," she explains. "And every single aspect of it was rich and beautiful and just arresting, actually. To see this aspirational African world that actually becomes an example for the whole wide world was spellbinding. We were all very much aware that we were in something extremely special."
A big part of Lupita's March Allure feature is to touch on the culture of hair and her experience with embracing her own hair, having grown up not loving her natural look. "I was really kind of envious of girls with thicker, longer, more lush hair," she says. "In my tween years, I started begging my mother to have my hair relaxed. She wouldn’t allow it, though her hair was relaxed. She felt that that was a decision I could come to when I was maybe 18."
Read her full interview here.