CNN
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Chadwick Boseman did not read the script for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” before his death in 2020, according to the film’s director.
Ryan Coogler told “Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast” that he offered Boseman a chance to read the script, but, at the time, the actor declined.
Host Ta-Nehisi Coates had asked where Coogler was in the writing process when he found out Boseman had died.
“I just finished it, man. My last conversation was calling him, asking him if he wanted to read it before I got notes from the studio,” he said. “That was the last time we spoke. And yeah, so I, you know, he passed maybe a couple weeks after I finished.”
Coogler said he could “tell something was up” with the star, and could tell he was struggling with his health.
Boseman battled colon cancer before his death but had not widely shared his diagnosis.
“He was tired, bro. I could tell he was tired. I’d been trying to get a hold of him for a few days and Denzel [Washington] had been trying to get a hold of him too,” he said. “So I texted him and told him, ‘Hey man, Denzel said he’s been looking for you too.’ Because he just did ‘Ma Rainey’ for Denzel. So he called me. And I could tell he was laying down. We were talking. And Simone [Boseman] was with him. And (laughs) he kicks Simone out, because he told her he didn’t want her to hear nothing that could get him in trouble with the NDA. And she didn’t wanna leave him. So I could tell something was up. But they were joking and laughing.”
On the script, Coogler said Boseman “didn’t wanna read it because he didn’t wanna get in the way of whatever notes the studio might have. So he was like, ‘It’s better if I can read it later.’ But I found later that he was too tired to read anything.”