Read the Full StoryAt just 32, Ryan Coogler has already turned out an extraordinary trilogy of missing-father-and-son films: “Fruitvale Station,” which played Un Certain Regard after debuting at Sundance, “Rocky” sequel “Creed,” and historic blockbuster “Black Panther,” which has crashed Hollywood barriers that should have been shattered decades ago.
Coogler’s original coming-of-age concept for “Black Panther” was a lion learning what it means to be king, a man who carried an idealized version of his father and country in his head. When that is destroyed, he has to pick up the pieces and create something new. Coogler had never seen an African man like T’Challa, untouched by colonization, either in a movie or in history.
