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A few days before Marvel Studios’ Black Panther started breaking box office records around the world, Disney held a press junket here in Los Angeles where I got to talk to two of the stars of the film: Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis. While I had a million things racing through my head that I wanted to talk about during the brief time I’d have with them, I decided to talk about how the film touches on what’s happening in our world without it feeling forced or like it’s preaching, what people would be surprised to learn about the making of the big action scene in the casino, and what it was like collaborating with director Ryan Coogler during filming.

As everyone that reads Collider knows, written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, the film stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther (first introduced in Captain America: Civil War), who returns home to the isolated and advanced nation of Wakanda in the wake of his father’s death to assume his rightful place as king. Matters are complicated when his place on the throne is put into question. Black Panther also stars Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Forest Whitaker, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke, Letitia Wright, and Angela Bassett.

Check out what Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis had to say in the player above and below is what we discussed followed by the official synopsis.

Finally, for more on Black Panther, you can read Haleigh Foutch’s glowing review.

Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis:

• After reminiscing about an old Hobbit interview and the t-shirt I was wearing...
• What was it like collaborating with Ryan Coogler?
• How the film touches on what’s happening in our world without it feeling forced or like it’s preaching.

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  They both talk about filming the big casino action scene and the challenges of making it.

Here’s the official synopsis for Black Panther:

Marvel Studios’ Black Panther follows T’Challa who, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king. But when a powerful old enemy reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king -and Black Panther- is tested when he is drawn into a formidable conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people and their way of life.