[This story contains spoilers for Black Panther.]
Francis Ford Coppola was so struck by one scene in particular when he screened an early cut of Black Panther, he asked to see it again as soon as the movie concluded.
On the commentary track for the Marvel blockbuster, director Ryan Coogler reveals that he showed an early cut of the film to The Godfather director because “his work inspired a lot of the story,” Coogler said.
“As soon as the movie was off, he said, ‘Rewind it to the most important scene in the movie. The scene where everything changed,'” Coogler said.
Said moment is when T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) confronts Zuri (Forest Whitaker) about what happened to Erik “Killmonger” Stevens (Michael B. Jordan) and his father, N’Jobu (Sterling K. Brown), years before in Oakland. T’Challa had learned that his father T’Chaka (played by Atandwa Kani in the flashbacks) killed his own brother N’Jobu, who had secretly been planning to arm the oppressed peoples of the world with Vibranium. After killing his brother, T’Chaka left his nephew Erik (played by Seth Carr in flashbacks) alone in Oakland so that the people of Wakanda would not find out about what had transpired.
“It’s the original sin of Wakanda and the original sin of T’Chaka,” said Coogler, who noted it was the most crucial moment in the entire picture.
Coppola has won multiple Oscars for his work, and is known for crafting sprawling family dramas whose influence can be seen in Black Panther. The movie went on to be a critical and commercial success, hailed as a movement, not just a film.
Black Panther will be available on digital May 8 and on disk May 15.
