Ryan Coogler recently made an appearance on Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson's 'All The Smoke' podcast, and chatted about his relationship with the legendary late actor Chadwick Boseman.
"What I learned most from Chadwick was patience bro," said Coogler as he did a bit of reflecting. "I've talked about this a lot, but he was a person who moved at his own pace. He was from the south, and he was quite older than Mike [Michael B. Jordan] and myself when we worked with him," added Coogler, who went on to mention that at that specific time, Boseman was dealing with life or death circumstances that they were not aware of.
"It was heightened...he changed my life my bro," he continued. "He was a meditator and a martial artist, and was extremely in control of his ability to focus. When you were with him, he wasn't the type of dude to be checking his phone or be distracted. He was the single most focused person I've ever met. Looking back on it, it was incredible, and it's something I inspire to."
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Coogler and Barnes also chatted a bit about other topics, such as how the director was able to make it in a Hollywood. Barnes, who goes way back with Coogler, took a minute to ask why it was important for him to make 2013's "Fruitvale Station," (which also stars Jordan). "I pitched Forest Whitaker three projects..."Fruitvale" was one of them," noted Coogler."That was the one I believed in the most...I was still in film school man! I literally left class to go sit down with his producer, and then left class to go sit down with him. And I was blessed that one of the projects I made in film school...which nobody will ever see...it impressed the teacher there, who then remembered me years later when somebody from Forest Whitaker's production company reached out and asked if there was any filmmakers when should get too know."
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As for Coogler's latest project, "Sinners," it's currently the number one movie in the nation with a $45.6 million opening weekend at the box office.