Ryan Coogler was "excited" to collaborate with Marvel Studios.
Ryan Coogler
The 31-year-old director helmed and co-wrote the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie 'Black Panther' - which is based around their first ever African superhero - and admitted it was a "rewarding process".
Speaking to Wired, Coogler said: "It's been interesting.
"Filmmaking is a collaborative medium but, in this case, I was excited to collaborate with the studio once I got to know them.
"What Marvel was interested in was me bringing my own personal tastes and perspectives to the story; they were very encouraging of me to make the film my own.
"With all collaborations come challenges from both sides, that's how relationships work, but it's been a very rewarding process for me so far."
Coogler also admitted he couldn't start writing the movie - which is set in a fictional African city called Wakanda - without having visited the continent.
He said: "When I first met the folks at Marvel, I had never been to the continent of Africa, even though it's a place where I know I have heritage.
"I realised that my ideas about the place were formed by second- and third-hand experience [via] the media.
"And because I'd never been, I didn't feel qualified to even start writing without having set foot there physically.
"That was where the journalism aspect began - going out there and seeing how it made me feel, talking with folks and trying to find African nations that stood up to colonialism.
"Also, studying styles of rituals and rights of passages that remain intact for many years, and trying to find the consistent things no matter where you go on the continent.
"For example, there's a reverence for your ancestors no matter where you go [in Africa]. Another is the idea of where someone is buried.
"The idea of home. Of your attachment, of your tribe's attachment to a certain place."
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