Letitia Wright learned a lot from Angela Bassett on the set of ‘Black Panther’.
The 24-year-old actress plays Shuri in the new Marvel Cinematic Universe movie ‘Black Panther’ alongside the ‘American Horror Story’ star, and initially she was "really nervous" working with Bassett, 59.
But Wright had no need to be pensive as Bassett took her under her wing and supported her on the set of the action blockbuster.
Speaking to Time Out London magazine, Wright said: "I learned a lot from her. I was really nervous during the first couple of weeks.
"I wanted to hide in the background and do my lines. She noticed that and built up my confidence."
Chadwick Boseman stars as the titular hero Black Panther aka T’Challa, a character that was created by legendary Marvel Comics writer Stan Lee and the equally iconic artist-and-writer Jack Kirby, first appearing in ‘Fantastic Four #52’ back in 1966.
The motion picture is expected to expand on the storyline that was first introduced in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ of how T’Challa becomes Black Panther.
T’Challa’s father T’Chaka is king of fictional African nation Wakanda and has the ceremonial title Black Panther as the chief of the Panther Tribe, but is killed when a bomb goes off at the UN leaving his son to take on the mantle.
The film also Lupita Nyong’o, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis – who are both reprising their roles as Everett K. Ross and Ulysses Klaue respectively in the new film.
The movie has been hailed by critics for having a cast predominantly made up of black actors and although Wright admits it is "refreshing" it is totally necessary to the story being told on screen.
Wright – who was born in Georgetown, Guyana, but raised in London, England, from the age of seven – said: "The cast is pretty much all black, which is refreshing, but we want that to be normal. Every time we see a period drama, we don’t say, ‘Oh my God. It’s white folks in the 60s’. It’s just a story."
Although shooting to fame in the Channel 4 series ‘Top Boy’ and now starring in a Hollywood blockbuster, Wright admitted she wants to do more arthouse movies.
She said: "Arthouse films. I want to do stuff like ‘Lady Bird’. I want people to say, ‘She told amazing stories.’ "
Letitia Wright learnt so much from Angela Bassett on Black Panther
