I was invited by Disney/Marvel to attend the #BlackPantherEvent. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Last week when I attended the Black Panther Press Conference in Hollywood we got to interview some of the cast including a duo interview with Lupita Nyong’o who plays Nakia and Danai Gurira who plays Okoye in the film. These two ladies have strong roles in the film so it was great to go behind the scenes to ask them some questions about their role in this upcoming film that Marvel fans are going to LOVE!

In which ways do you identify with your characters that helped you develop them as the strong independent women they are?”

Lupita: I identify with Nakia’s independent spirit and her feeling her loyalty to her country. I understand. She’s a warrior right and she’s the chosen warrior of the River Tribe person for Melissa and then she’s also a war dog, an undercover spy but as a warrior, as a leader of her tribe I think it means a lot to her to make her people proud and I understand that. I relate to that and so I think that was my in to figuring out who she was and I love a woman who is on a mission to make a difference which is what she’s on.

Danai: Yeah, I definitely related to her, you know, her power and purpose. Like she was very purpose and I think she’s purposed since she was quite small. I was saying earlier I really see her as like a very intense ten year old, you know, and she used to watch the door alarm as you’re walking around when she was a kid and she’s like and that was just her focus in life.

Can we you talk about how beautiful the scene in the casino was and that red dress? It’s just amazing and the training process for that or both of you. What did you go through and how did you challenge that and still look super graceful while you were doing it.

Danai: Yeah, we trained a lot. Michael was my guy. Maddie was hers and they’re just awesome, awesome guys and, you know, just took us through so many like components of, and they really were so smart with how they crafted with Ryan. You know, how these two, these women are different and how their fighting styles are very different. Mine is very traditional. Hers is get the job done, you know, and so my character’s gonna pull out her spear and she’s gonna do forms that have been in Wakandan tradition for generations in this particular place and she’s just gonna take them down and smack them down you know what I mean and I just love that.

Lupita: The training was a big part of getting into character because understanding how someone fights reveals a lot about, you know, what their values are and who they are and so when we were first talking about Nakia’s fighting style Ryan said to me she’s street and that was really all I needed so by any means necessary she will use any weapon. They don’t use guns but Nakia has no problem using guns, you know. She will use her shoe. She will use whatever. She will grab whatever it takes to get the job done and just and then that again is another way that when we put together we stand in solidarity. We occupy our own space and then going into battle together everyone has a different strength to bring to the table and I think that it was a very, it was a way to make fighting extremely rich, you know, and full of culture in and of itself. You know, it’s very specific.

I noticed that hair in culture seem to be a beauty statement and they brought it to where we are today with the current, you know, natural styles and things like that. can you give us a little bit more because you said you had to shave your head and you adapted to getting used to it and I did the same and now I have a different crown but the crown is different to women of color and it’s a huge statement in this film.

Danai: Yeah, I mean I think the beauty is, you know, it’s such a celebration and I think that that’s what’s so powerful to me about it because I don’t think as I was saying, you know, you often don’t see Africanisms celebrated and so I think that completely connects with the hair. I love what the hair department and the costume department did. They really pulled from real actual cultures and ethnic differentiations and how hair is celebrated across the continent traditionally and currently and, you know, I think there is something really powerful about all the ways that hair was represented there because I think there are so many things that tell us, you know, the thing that tells those of African descent or, you know, people who get categorized as the other that there’s one way that they should actually manifest themselves in society in order to be accepted or acceptable.

I mean it’s an argument I still hear every time I go to Zimbabwe sometimes. It’s like oh, my god they had dreadlocks and I don’t want to go to work with dreadlocks. It’s gotten thinner and thinner but it’s something that still needs to get addressed sometimes and there’s some issues even like we thought somethings we dealt with in the 60s. We thought we got with black is beautiful. We thought we got it and we haven’t. You know, it keeps coming back sometimes so I love that there are so many manifestations of that sort of expressions and, you know, with Nakia, Nakia’s got her little knots and then she’s got a fro, you know, what I mean and then and Okoye loves her bald head and she doesn’t like to wear wigs. She said why am I wearing this thing on my head? It makes no sense.

If you love movies with action you are going to LOVE this film! Usually you will see mostly men in fighting scenes but in Wakanda the women know how to protect what they love too!