I was invited by Disney/Marvel to attend the #BlackPantherEvent. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

One of my favorite Disney stories growing up was Lady And The Tramp. When I think about the first Disney stories that I remember as a child, I think of my Lady And The Tramp (a Little Golden Book) along with a few others like Cinderella, Bambi and the 101 Dalmations. Those were the gems before the VHS, DVD and Blu-ray movies took over the movie world. I now love adding each of these stories that I enjoyed as a child to my Disney movie collection that I consider one of my prized possessions!

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When I seen the trailer for Coco I knew it was a movie that I wanted to see with my children. I also knew that this was a movie that I was definitely going to add to my Disney + Pixar movie collection! This tale of Miguel , a young aspiring musician who goes on a extraordinary journey to the magical land of his ancestors is NOW available on Blu-ray, Ultra HD, and DVD TODAY!

If you are looking a movie for the whole family to watch Coco would be my first choice right now! This movie has a great story line that is all about FAMILY and you can learn about some Mexican culture too! It has definitely inspired me to learn more.

Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel (voice of newcomer Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (voice of Benjamin Bratt). Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector (voice of Gael García Bernal), and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel’s family history.

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I was invited by Disney/Marvel to attend the #BlackPantherEvent. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you had a chance to see Black Panther you probably just as amazed as I was with the costumes that you will seen in the movie. There are two people that I had the opportunity to meet last month at the Black Panther Press Conference that played important roles in making this film so successful. We had the chance to sit down with Ruth E. Carter (Costume Designer) and Heather Beachler (Production Designer) to learn more about their experiences with helping with this film.

Our first question for these ladies is how did they get started. We wanted to know how did they start with such a film so big and was there a fluid kind of creative process?

Ruth tells us that she is going to let to let Hannah start because Hannah is the one that usually starts the design process. Hannah goes to tell us about the time they were interviewing that Ryan tells her that Ruth Carter’s in the office and how she was just standing there so Ryan says “you wanna come in and meet her?”.  She tells us how she came in and they  started talking about other things like Ryan’s suit because he is getting married and how they didn’t even talk about the interview. Then Ruth shares how she felt when she left…

Ruth E Carter:  And when I left I thought, you know, Hannah’s gonna say get her. Get her. I had such a good feeling from this.  A warm feeling. You know when you’re in the right place and in the right space. That’s what I felt like when I left. And I knew that Marvel takes a while to make their decisions. So, I made sure I said to Ryan, you know, let me know, you know. Somebody else could be knocking on the door behind you. But they did. They made the decision and there I came.

Photo Credit: Natasha Nicholes – Houseful Of Nicholes

I LOVED what Hannah had to say about Ruth’s response:

Heather Beachler: Yep, yep, it was pretty awesome. So, that was an honor for me, because I know your work. And so that just made everything. You know what I mean? It was like, okay, we’re all in good hands.

Heather tells us how she came on first because production designer’s are usually on films right after the director, hired by the director and producers. She tells us how Ryan was really good at guiding her with the process that started at the macro and how they talked about where is Wakanda and that that was going to determine everything that goes around.

Hannah Beachler: We kind of set it in sort of eastern sub-Saharan Africa. So, basically you can kind of place it on the border of DRC like right above Burundi and Rwanda. So there was like Kibuye was there, Kenya, Uganda, above Uganda, Sudan. So, that’s sort of where we are. And we also took from Omo Valley tribes in Ethiopia. So you go down a little bit, but we wanted to keep it sub-Saharan. We wanted to keep it very specific. 

Heather tells us about how she reached into Western Nigeria, into Lagos and did a lot of research in Nairobi and the bigger cities around for the film. She tells us how she researched Kenya, Johannesburg and Cape Town just for some of the architecture and that she looked at the older architecture.

Heather Beachler: So, that’s really where my process started really big. Where are we? And then it was like what is the typography of the land? Next step is where does each tribe live on that land and why? And what is each tribe’s history. So then I go down and dot through each tribes’ history, and like this is why they live here. There is a story and a reason behind every single thing you see on that screen coming from me and coming from Ruth.

We wanted to know more about the costumes! There is some amazing and beautiful costumes that you will see in this movie.

Ruth E. Carter: We were looking at Afropunk. We’re looking at modern fashion. We’re moving everything forward. Everything has to be beautiful. We are not going to lie in any stereotypes at all. Whatsoever. We wanted to present this world as a kingdom. What if Africa was not colonized? This is what they would honor. And you see these images of the Himba girl with her leather drape on and her Himba paced all over her skin and her costume, and she’s pushing like a grocery cart in like a little convenience store. This is like a real photo that I saw. And I thought, wow, this is like really cool how you can mix ancient indigenous tribal culture with modern. We don’t want to make a documentary. This is a futuristic place. This is a place that has the richest mineral known on earth, Vibranium. And, you know, they’re aware of it. They’re aware of their richness. So, let’s just move that forward. Looking at Afropunk, those images that you see on your phone, going through your Instagram, you see that beauty. And that’s some of the beauty that we wanted to infuse.

I always think it is interesting to learn more about the costumes, the set and everything else that goes into making a big movie so successful. At the end of our interview with these ladies they were kind enough to take a photo with us that we could share!

Haven’t seen the movie yet? Take a peek at the Black Panther official movie trailer below:

Black Panther is playing in theaters everywhere!

• Like Black Panther  on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackPantherMovie
• Follow Black Panther  on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theblackpanther  
• Follow Marvel Studios on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marvelstudios/

Take a peek at the latest #BlackPantherEvent tweets below:

I was invited by Disney/Marvel to attend the #BlackPantherEvent. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Tomorrow Black Panther in theaters everywhere! I am excited to be able to take my kids to watch a movie that I haven’t been able to stop talking about! Today I am sharing our exclusive interview with Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue) and Winston Duke (M’Baku) who may just be your new Marvel favorites!

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I was invited by Disney/Marvel to attend the #BlackPantherEvent. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This month I have been sharing lots of things Black Panther related since the movie in playing in theaters everywhere this Friday! Today I am sharing 5 things that I learned during the Black Panther Press Conference last month that you might want to know before you watch the movie.

The night before the conference was the Black Panther World Premiere that I also attended, so when the main cast of the movie walked on the stage that I just seen hours before, for an interview with Nischelle Turner from Entertainment Tonight that I watch was really exciting!

During the Black Panther Press Conference I learned that…

#1 – Nischelle Turner asked Kevin Feige  “Why Chadwick for Black Panther?”. He tells us that they were sitting around a table coming up with the story for Civil War where Nate Moore the executive producer suggested bringing in Black Panther because they were looking for a third party that wouldn’t necessarily side with Captain America or Ironman and almost instantly they all said Chadwick.

#2 – Nischelle Turner tells Letitia Wright who plays Shuri that if could pick a character it would be Shuri. Letitia tells says at first she would want to be Danai, then Okoye. Then she says  “What I love about it, as well, with how it was written is that the men are always behind the women, as well.  So no one’s like undermined – like, the men are like, you know, ‘You shouldn’t be in technology, and you shouldn’t be in math.’  They’re like, ‘No, go ahead.’  Like, so T’Challa is like, ‘Go ahead, Sis.  This is your department.  This is your domain.  Like – kill it.”

#3 – There is a STRONG presence of women in this movie that is really great! I am so excited to take my daughters to watch this film to see which ones of these ladies in the film is their favorite. Angela Basset tells us “So I was so proud to have my daughter, and my son there last night, because in their faces, and in their spirit – and they were feeling themselves. And they stood taller after last night.” 

Photo Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

#4 – Ryan Coogler is the Director behind Marvel’s Black Panther.  When asked what he thought after he watched the movie this is what he had to say “Oh, man, I felt – I just felt incredibly blessed, you know, to have had the opportunity to make the film this way, to make the film with this studio, you know, working with Kevin and his team – Victoria Alonso, Louis D’Esposito, and Nate Moore, who Chadwick was just talking about – has been like – which is an incredible opportunity.  And it’s not something I ever imagined, you know, would happen.  And it’s good to work with some of my, like my – you know, my mentor, and these people who I’ve watched, you know, for my whole life, and some friends that I’ve made through this process.  I mean, it was you know, it was incredible, when I had like 50 of my family members there, all from the Bay area; they were like, talking at the screen”. 

Photo Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

#5 – There are some really cool Black Panther products your children will love and even some products you will probably want for yourself. Here are just a few of the awesome Black Panther products I seen.

There was some really great questions that were asked at this press conference. Watch the full Black Panther Press Conference below:

BLACK PANTHER is in theaters everywhere February 16th!

Read my Black Panther Movie Review