Actor Chadwick Boseman, who died last week, is being mourned and celebrated in his hometown of Anderson, South Carolina, on Thursday. Meanwhile, the text messages he sent just before he died show the way in which he was a superhero to his youngest fans.
“They’ve been through hell battling disease,” he wrote to his executive producer, referencing the sick children they were working to get toys for. “If we were able to ease their suffering and bring joy for a moment, and hopefully moments (as) he goes through the bags, then we made a difference in his life.”
Back when Boseman was promoting his blockbuster film “Black Panther,” he discussed two boys he knew who were stricken with terminal cancer, who said they couldn’t wait for his new movie.
“When I think back now to a kid, you know, waiting for a toy or a video game. I did live a life waiting for those moments,” Boseman said.
It was an emotional moment that means more today than anyone realized — because just like those two little boys, Boseman was fighting cancer too.
Boseman lost his battle with colon cancer at the age of 43. Few knew of his illness — not his co-workers, and not even the young people he often visited in the hospital, like Zoe Dale.
“Everyone should take a lesson from him being able to see what he was going through and still have a smile on your face,” Dale said.
Michelle Miller is the co-host of “CBS This Morning: Saturday.” As an award-winning correspondent based in New York City, she has reported for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms. She joined CBS News in 2004.
Marvel will not recast the role of King T’Challa in the upcoming film “Black Panther 2” to honor the legacy of Chadwick Boseman, the actor who played the role before he died in August, Disney announced Thursday. Instead, the film will “explore the world of Wakanda,” the fictional country in which the first film took place.
“Honoring Chadwick Boseman’s legacy & portrayal of T’Challa, Marvel Studios will not recast the character, but will explore the world of Wakanda and the rich characters introduced in the first film,” Disney wrote on Twitter. The company said Black Panther 2 will premiere on July 8, 2022 and will be written and directed by Ryan Coogler, who directed the first film.
Black Panther 2, opening July 8, 2022, is being written & directed by Ryan Coogler. Honoring Chadwick Boseman’s legacy & portrayal of T’Challa, @MarvelStudios will not recast the character, but will explore the world of Wakanda & the rich characters introduced in the first film.
Boseman died on August 30 after a four-year battle with colon cancer, which he had not publicly disclosed. He had been undergoing treatment for the cancer while filming the first “Black Panther” film. The cancer had progressed to stage four at the time of his death.
Since August 30, Marvel Studios has kept a pinned message on the top of its Twitter account stating that Boseman “will always be our King.”
Kevin Feige, the producer of the Black Panther movies, addressed the decision during a livestream of Disney’s annual investor day on Thursday.
Feige said that he wanted to “acknowledge the devastating loss of a dear friend and member of the Marvel Studios family,” Deadline reported.
“Chadwick Boseman was an immensely talented actor and an inspirational individual who affected all of our lives professionally and personally,” Feige added. “His portrayal of T’Challa the Black Panther is iconic and transcends iteration of the character in any other medium from Marvel’s past.”
Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include “Thor: Love and Thunder,” the series “I Am Groot,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “She-Hulk,” “Hawkeye,” “Captain Marvel 2,” and more.
Of course, the premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverwould end up being an emotional event. But Letitia Wright’s tribute to her late co-star took things to a whole new level.
Wright plays Shuri, T’Challa’s younger sister and the princess of Wakanda in the Black Panther film series. Observers noted that Wright’s ensemble at the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever premiere yesterday in Los Angeles bore a striking resemblance to the one that Chadwick Boseman wore to the Oscars in 2018, the year the first Black Panther opened in theaters.
The Wakanda Forever premiere event was extremely reverent, and multiple people came out to do their best to pay tribute to their lost friend. Tons of fans also appeared at the premiere, most of them dressing in their favorite Marvel cosplay. The whole premiere was beautiful, but at the same time, it must have been extremely bittersweet.
On the red carpet, Wright said it was “emotional” to be at the premiere without Boseman, who died in the summer of 2020. She added, “I’m bracing .. I’ve seen some member’s of Chad’s team. When we lock eyes, we know how this feels. We have to take a step away. I see my aunt locking my eyes with me, she’s very proud. I have to take a step away… We’re trying to hold it together.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was directed by Ryan Coogler, who previously directed the first Black Panther as well as the original Creed. In addition to Wright, the cast also includes Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, and Angela Bassett all returning from the first film. New characters in this sequel include Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, who will soon be spun off into her own Marvel series as the hero Ironheart, and Tenoch Huerta as Namor, the king of the undersea civilization Talocan.
Reviews out of the premiere were extremely positive, with several critics saying Wakanda Forever is the best movie in all of Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is scheduled to open in theaters on November 11.
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Before the death of Chadwick Boseman, Marvel had a totally different plan for aBlack Panthersequel. The film initially revolved entirely around Boseman’s T’Challa. In fact, earlier versions of the movie’s script were structured completely differently from the current one.
New trailers for the film show Wakanda mourning the loss of its greatest warrior. In the original script, the film would have instead been about T’Challa learning to cope with his new role as his country’s leader. Ryan Coogler and Lupita Nyong’o spoke about the initial plan with The Hollywood Reporter, shedding a little more light on the film, as well as backlash surrounding the decision not to recast Boseman’s role. Coogler said:
The script we wrote before Chadwick passed was very much rooted in T’Challa’s perspective, It was a massive movie but also simultaneously a character study that delved deeply into his psyche and situation.
“That is not the death of the Black Panther, that’s the whole point. It’s laying to rest [T’Challa] and allowing for real life to inform the story of the movies,” added Nyong’o. “I know that there are all sorts of reasons why people want him to be recast, but I don’t have the patience. I don’t have the presence of mind, or I don’t have the objectivity to argue with that. I don’t. I’m very biased.”
In the version of the film coming to theaters, T’Challa’s friends and loved ones must move on from his death while dealing with the threat of an invasion from Namor, who comes from an underwater civilization whose technology is nearly on par with Wakanda. In the MCU, Namor hails from Talocan, a mythical city derived from Aztec mythology. He’s quite a force to be reckoned with.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is slated for release on November 22nd of 2022.
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US actor Bruce Willis poses on arrival for the European premiere of Glass in central London on … [+] January 9, 2019. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP) (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
At the beginning of October there were numerous reports that veteran actor Bruce Willis had sold the rights to his face to deepfake company, Deepcake. Though these rumors were debunked by an official spokesperson for the actor the conversations around the technology have continued. How could it be used positively for the industry in the future and could it negatively impact actors?
Willis announced his retirement from acting in March after being diagnosed with a speech disorder known as aphasia. There was a report that he had sold the rights to his face, that major news outlets including the Daily Mail and The Telegraph ran with. Though untrue, it did get people’s imaginations running about the possibilities through using the technology.
Deepfakes use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology to render realistic videos. The tech has so far been used to mimic celebrities and other well-known individuals with surprising accuracy. Willis had worked with Deepcake before on a deepfake project, an advert for Russian telecoms company Megafon.
The advert was shot and aired in 2021 and a Russian actor had Willis’ face superimposed over his using deepfake technology.
The production, through Deepcake, had to collect numerous materials from Willis and his consent to use his likeness in the advert.
In a statement from Deepcake, they shed more light on the controversy surrounding the report.
“The wording about rights is wrong… Bruce couldn’t sell anyone any rights, they are his by default,”
The quote implies that Willis couldn’t sell his rights even if he wanted to, however, his participation in the Russian advert implies otherwise. Perhaps not long-term, but it could certainly be done on a project-by-project basis.
If just materials were needed for Willis to be replicated so accurately, anyone could be deepfaked with the requisite archives. For those in the public eye, most of those materials are in the public domain already.
Bruce Willis running with automatic weapon in a scene from the film ‘Die Hard’, 1988. (Photo by 20th … [+] Century-Fox/Getty Images)
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Some organizations have come out and said the technology would affect actors’ livelihoods and even that they could be contracted out of their voices and/or faces. Regardless the business is growing.
Deepfake technology has been used for recently retired Darth Vader actor James Earl Jones. His voice as Vader can continue and was recently used on Disney’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series through a company called Respeecher. The voice was even made to sound younger and more relevant to the timeline the show is set-in.
The growth of the tech does bring the points of rights into question. Could estates that represent deceased celebrities position themselves for their individual to carry on their legacy using deepfake technology? Is it ethical to do so? Music is still released from musicians that have passed away. Michael Jackson, Pop Smoke, and Tupac are notable examples. Though they may have recorded the vocals did that mean they wanted the tracks released? Starting a new project using their likeness is potentially even more controversial, as it’s something they can’t comment on in live terms.
Willis’ situation is much more unique as he can decide which projects to lend his name and likeness to, with this could we see another layer to performance with actors playing actors portraying characters in the future?
The continued development of the technology will certainly be something to look out for as another perspective is that characters could live on irrespective of what happens to an actor. Scheduling conflicts could become a thing of the past. The passing of Chadwick Boseman is a prime example. Clearly, no one wanted to replace Boseman but it was pivotal that the Black Panther character continued, with Disney deciding to continue a storyline post the death of T’Challa.
LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 08: (EDITORS NOTE: THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN CONVERTED TO BLACK AND WHITE) … [+] Chadwick Boseman attends the European Premiere of Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith on February 8, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Disney)
Getty Images for Disney
Speaking with Empire, Marvel head Kevin Feige said about the matter, “It just felt like it was much too soon to recast,”
“Stan Lee always said that Marvel represents the world outside your window. And we had talked about how, as extraordinary and fantastical as our characters and stories are, there’s a relatable and human element to everything we do. The world is still processing the loss of Chad. And Ryan poured that into the story.”
There’s a lot to unpack in regards to ethics and processes but there is certainly the potential for mass disruption using deepfake technology.
