Ryan Coogler and Chadwick Boseman at the European Premiere of 'Black Panther' in London in 2018. Karwai Tang/WireImage Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Ryan Coogler's first meeting with Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman was a literally a surprise. "I was doing press for Creed. And he kinda pulled up, he snuck in, and we sat, and we were feeling each other out," the Sinners filmmaker recently recalled to The Hollywood Reporter. It was November 2015, just days before Creed's Thanksgiving release, and there were reports that talks had cooled between the Bay Area filmmaker and Marvel Studios about directing Black Panther. Even so, it seemed Boseman wanted to get to know the filmmaker. Related Stories Movies 'Sinners' Leads 2025 Black Film Critics Circle Awards Movies How Corporate Drama Is Making 'Sinners' an Oscar Favorite Boseman had already filmed his role as T'Challa, the Black Panther, for the 2016 MCU film Captain America: Civil War. Coogler and Boseman had plenty of common ground, including a connection through Creed star Phylicia Rashad - Boseman's one-time teacher at Howard University, one of the most storied Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), where she famously arranged for Denzel Washington to fund an Oxford acting program Boseman and other students were accepted into. Fruitvale Station, Coogler's debut 2013 film starring Michael B. Jordan in his first leading role about Oscar Grant being killed by a transit policeman in the Bay Area in 2009, wasn't like any Marvel film. But it spoke to a unique experience many Black men shared or feared. Coogler connected with Boseman through a similar incident at Boseman's alma mater. "I asked him about a bunch of people who I knew went to Howard at the same time as him," Coogler recalled. Key among them were Bradford Young, the first Black cinematographer to receive an Oscar nomination, and renowned journalist, author, activist and now Howard professor Ta-Nehisi Coates, whom Coogler counts as "a big brother." In his then recently released book Between the World and Me, Coates wrote about his friend and Howard classmate Prince Jones whom Boseman also knew who was killed by an off-duty police officer. As they spoke about Jones and other matters, Boseman told Coogler that he "felt like I could talk to you about things I can't normally talk to people in this industry about." Coogler felt the same. As they shook hands, the filmmaker knew he had to work with the 42 star. He just didn't know it would be on Black Panther. (Soon after Creed became a hit, he and Marvel signed a deal for him to officially direct.) Coogler shared these memories with THR during a whirlwind trip to D.C. in November, where he allowed seven students crowd into the green room of the historic Howard Theatre to listen in on the interview. He was there to receive the inaugural 'I Aspire' Global Impact Award presented in partnership with Howard University's Chadwick A. Boseman School of Fine Arts during the Cafe Mocha Radio Salute THEM Awards. His appearance also helped kick off the 3rd HBCU First Look Film Festival held on Howard University's campus, a fest that gained attention when the Obamas screened their Netflix film Rustin during the festival's inaugural year. "I had no idea the work that we would do would impact the world as it did, but crazy enough, he did," said Coogler, wearing a chain with Boseman's picture that he would also wear during the Black Panther star's posthumous Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony two weeks later. "He would talk about it all the time and I think a lot of it has to do with the time that he spent at Howard. It gave him that specific yet global perspective. Our stories are global stories. They're for us but, when told well, everybody can enjoy them." (L-R) Hugo Soto-Martínez, Derrick Boseman, Ryan Coogler, Taylor Simone Ledward, Kevin Boseman, Viola Davis, Jerry Neuman and Steven Nissen at Chadwick Boseman's walk of fame ceremony in November. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images Coogler credited Boseman, who also starred in Marshall as Howard University Law School alum and first Black Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall months before their culture-changing Wakanda phenomenon, for helping "to shape me and define the man and the artist that I've become in these past few years." Coogler's stop came amid a particularly busy time. He had to leave immediately after accepting his award to catch a flight to London to promote Sinners with his stars Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton. On the red carpet outside the historic Howard Theatre - where Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, James Brown (whom Boseman portrayed in Get On Up in 2014) and Aretha Franklin once performed - Coogler spoke with HBCU press and took selfies with filmmakers. Inside, he met with