Officially, “Avengers: Infinity War” was a movie under the direction of Anthony and Joe Russo, who are often credited for some of the best films in recent memory. However, it would appear that the two were not always in control throughout the whole production process. In fact, when it came to the scenes featuring the fictional kingdom of Wakanda, the two reportedly surrendered control to the “Black Panther” cast.
Speaking to Metro recently, Winston Duke (M’Baku) said that the “Avengers: Infinity War” crew was quite welcoming of their group when production started. Upon coming to the scenes involving Wakanda, the actor said that the Russo brothers were more than happy to get their input.
“We walked on the set and they said ‘We weren’t a part of Black Panther, we don’t know this as deeply as you do so we’re trusting you to bring whatever you want into this and we’ll take a back seat,’” Duke said.
“I taught some of the chants to the guys on set, some of them were new extras who were part of the tribe, and I taught some of the language and the words to other people, and Danai [Gurira] did the same. We got a lot of freedom to just flex and do what we did, create a world and make Wakanda feel flushed out within a movie that wasn’t even really about it.”
This makes sense in many ways since one of the things that made “Black Panther” such a unique movie was the feel of Wakanda itself. The presentation of the kingdom needed to be done by those who understood it. In the absence of Ryan Coogler, the cast was simply the next best thing to make the fictional region come alive in “Avengers: Infinity War.”
It would appear that this was the right choice to make. When “Avengers: Infinity War” came out, it hardly felt that much different compared to “Black Panther.”
