One of Chadwick Boseman’s best performances has to be playing T’Challa in the MCU movies (which are streaming on your Disney+ subscription). The late actor not only brought the first Black superhero in mainstream comics to life, but he did so with a commanding presence and deep humanity. If you want to know just how far Boseman got into his superhero role, director Ryan Coogler spoke about Marvel execs “freaking out” over the actor’s impressive T’Challa accent.
Ever since Black Panther made his debut in Captain America: Civil War, he wowed audiences with his fierce combat skills and dedication to serving Wakanda. Chadwick Boseman was practically born to play T’Challa. A throwback to the Golden Globe winner training to fight as Black Panther looked like a rhythmic dance that flowed so naturally in him. Coogler spoke on an episode of The Breakfast Club (via Variety) about how the dedicated Boseman had Marvel execs “freaking out” for keeping his T’Challa accent the whole shoot:
He was talking in an African accent. Disney execs came to see us on ‘Panther.’ It was week two and they pulled up and it was the T’Challa accent and they were freaked out. I was like, ‘Don’t be freaked out. He’s working, man. He don’t turn it off until we wrap.'
He was quite the method actor! I can understand wanting to keep a fake accent throughout filming. As Chadwick Boseman was a South Carolina native, speaking the whole time on set in an African accent must have been a great way to ensure there were no slips of his native American accent. After all, Bryce Dallas Howard felt like that trick was effective in maintaining her fake British accent in Rocketman. If your voice is completely different from the character you’re playing, keeping the foreign dialect absolutely can be the best method to deliver a believable performance.
Chadwick Boseman’s Wakandan accent didn’t just appear out of thin air. The Get On Up actor perfected his T’Challa dialect by using the same accent coach he used for Message from the King, where he played a South African.
Once Boseman’s T’Challa accent shone through, you better believe he made sure to fight to use his Wakanda accent on screen. The higher-ups in the MCU didn’t know if Boseman was better off using his American accent or even a British accent that audiences would better recognize. However, the Oscar nominee stuck to his guns and didn’t want an “important factor” of his character to be stripped away. Therefore, T’Challa’s Wakandan accent was brought out in the actor, which reflected the heroic African king’s unique heritage and the pride of the Wakanda people.
Marvel execs “freaking out” over Chadwick Boseman’s Wakandan accent being used throughout shooting shows they must have had no idea what a method actor they hired. But the late MCU star's deep dedication to T’Challa came in full swing to not only throw a punch like a Wakandan warrior, but speak like one as well.
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