Black Panther's Movie Cast lands ESSENCE’s Cover March 2018 Issue

This has been a long time coming. An all cast Black Marvel Movie has the world excited and at an all time high. Box Offices are already selling out and Making History!

ESSENCE’s March issue allows the cast of the highly anticipated film Black Panther to take us to the incredible world of Wakanda—with three regal covers featuring stars Chadwick Boseman, Forest Whitaker, Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira and Letitia Wright. In the article Watch the Throne, the cast and creatives expound on why this African fantasy feels very real. Plus, the annual Black Women in Hollywood issue features ESSENCE’s 2018 honorees who shine beyond the screen—Danai Gurira, Tiffany Haddish, Lena Waithe and Tessa Thompson. *The March issue of ESSENCE hits newsstands on 2/23. Additional quotes—from both the “Black Panther/Watch the Throne” and “Black Women in Hollywood” packages—are below. (Photo Credit: Dennis Leupold)

(Photo Credit: Dennis Leupold)

QUOTES FROM “WATCH THE THRONE":

• DANAI GURIRA ON WHAT THE ROLE MEANT TO HER: “The idea of creating a scenario where you’re seeing very powerful, empowered Africans is really thrilling to me, something my heart, soul and spirit yearned to see…”

• LUPITA NYONG’O ON THE WONDER OF WAKANDA: “For me, as an African in this film, to walk on set and to see these incredible costumes and hairdos, these are the things I grew up seeing, but they’ve just been elevated to a fantastical place. We’re going to experience the richness of the continent, because the continent is what has informed us of what Wakanda could be…”

• ANGELA BASSETT ON PLAYING A QUEEN [Excerpt]: “When Angela Bassett received the call from [director] Coogler asking if she would play T’Challa’s stepmother, Queen Ramona, she had never heard of the character. ‘…Just to have an opportunity to portray that image—me, a little Black girl from the Florida projects. Playing a queen was just unattainable, unavailable. Even in a fictitious world, a Black woman cannot be a queen,’ she scoffs. ‘Why can’t I be?…’”

• LETITIA WRIGHT ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FILM: “We understand the responsibility. That it can shift mind-sets. I can be a Black superhero. I can be a scientist. I’m a queen. I’m a young prince. It’s not about me. It’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than all of us…”

• FOREST WHITAKER ON THE GENIUS OF DIRECTOR RYAN COOGLER: “His films always have some message about the depth of humanity, bringing out the voices of people of color while finding the universal connection that brings us together as one…”

• For more red-carpet details, visit ESSENCE.com.