Chadwick Boseman: Black Panther has more buzz than Malcolm X biopic

19 February 2018

Chadwick Boseman says there's more excitement surrounding 'Black Panther' than the release of the Malcolm X biopic.

Chadwick Boseman

The 41-year-old actor - who plays the titular character in the new Marvel movie - believes that the film, which centres on a superhero of African descent, has created more of a buzz than the Spike Lee-directed 'Malcolm X', which saw Denzel Washington play the civil rights activist.

Chadwick said: "I still remember the excitement people had seeing 'Malcolm X'. And this is greater, because it includes other people, too. Everybody comes to see the Marvel movie."

The new film features a predominantly black cast, which also includes the likes of Lupita Nyong'o and Michael B. Jordan, and it recently broke the ticket pre-sale record for a superhero production.

Chadwick is thrilled that a film about African culture has been afford a 'Star Wars'-like level of production.

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, he explained: "The money and manpower it takes to create this entire African world - it's a huge production.

"But this is not 'Star Wars' - this is a black superhero movie! What would it mean if it didn't happen? You'd be saying there's a second class of Marvel movies. A second-class citizenship."

Despite the popularity of 'Black Panther', Chadwick thinks there is still a double standard within the movie business.

He said: "Every year, agents fly to Australia to find the next great white actor. But where are they taking 14-hour flights to find the next black person?"

Chadwick feels especially frustrated by the attitude of the big movie studios, because he believes there are still so many interesting stories to tell about African culture.

The actor explained: "There's a plethora of stories in our culture that haven't been told, because Hollywood didn't believe they were viable. It would be cool to see slices of history that you haven't seen with African figures.

"Like Africans in Europe - the Moors in Spain. Or if you go to Portugal, they have statues of black people all over the place. So not only have we been here ... but we've directly affected everything that you think is European."