‘BLACK PANTHER’ EDITOR AND VFX CREW UNPACK ‘WAKANDA FOREVER’ SECRETS, INCLUDING FABLED 4-HOUR CUT

12.01.22At 2 hours and 41 minutes, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the longest movie of Phase 4 and the second-longest movie of the entire MCU just after Avengers: Endgame. This expansive runtime was absolutely necessary, given how the sequel (directed by Ryan Coogler, who co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole) needed the extra legroom to properly address the untimely passing of actor Chadwick Boseman, who was set to reprise the role of King T'Challa he made so iconic before dying of Stage IV colon cancer in 2020.

"He was our center, our core, our focus on everything," returning editor Michael P. Shawver tells SYFY WIRE over Zoom. "People say this was an impossible movie. I know there have been some headlines about that, but we never saw it as that. We never let ourselves believe that we couldn't do it. There's a difference between fear and caution — and I think we were we were very cautious about everything that we did and were very intentional. That was sort of the mantra that we went by."

Read the full article here: https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/black-panther-wakanda-forever-editor-vfx-team-interview