Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star Lupita Nyong'o shared a video at how she trained for her role in the Marvel Studios sequel.
"Swimming down to Talokan was not as easy as it looked!" Nyong'o wrote in the caption of her Instagram video, which showcased her intense underwater training for her role as Nakia in Wakanda Forever. The training involved swimming and walking underwater with weights and was "safely supervised" by XPT Life and Mark Roberts Fitness.
It was previously revealed that Nyong'o trained underwater to prepare for her role in order to look as comfortable as possible while acting in the water. "She would be down there holding her breath and carrying giant weights through the water," said Wakanda Forever producer and VP of production and development at Marvel Studios Nate Moore. "Nothing we'd asked her to do, by the way. We were like, 'What is this lady doing?' She was so intent on being believably comfortable in the water. She wanted to be as much of an expert as possible. And it shows. She was able to do things other cast members weren't because she was just so intent on going above and beyond to make sure this character felt real."
Dive Into Wakanda
Director Ryan Coogler similarly trained for the Black Panther sequel. In a previous interview, Coogler revealed that he learned to swim so he could direct the film's underwater scenes. "If the camera's in the water, actors are in the water, I've got to be in there too," he said. "I had to figure out how to swim, so I could direct this movie." Tenoch Huerta, who portrays Namor the Submariner, also had to learn how to swim in order to execute his role.
"I'm not Michael Phelps. That guy is a real superhero -- he's an actual mutant," Huerta said. "But we did a lot of free diving, since we shoot underwater, and I learned to hold my breath for up to five minutes. Now when I'm down there, holding my breath in the middle of the water, it is so peaceful. It's like meditation."
While the comics feature Marvel's version of Atlantis, the Marvel Cinematic Universe film re-imagined the kingdom as the Aztec-inspired underwater world of Talocan, ruled by Huerta's Namor. In the comics, Namor's kingdom is frequently at war with Wakanda, something teased in a synopsis released for Wakanda Forever. It also highlighted the "intertwined history" between Wakanda and Namor's kingdom, as both are civilizations that separated themselves from the outside world to protect their respective ways of life.
Wakanda Forever serves as a sequel to 2018's Black Panther, which starred the late Chadwick Boseman as King T'Challa/Black Panther. Wakanda Forever's plot was restructured following Boseman's death in 2020. Wakanda Forever sees Angela Bassett reprise her role as Queen Ramonda, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Winston Duke as M'Baku, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Martin Freeman as Everett Ross. The film also stars Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livanalli.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now in theaters.
Source: Instagram