"Black Panther" Star Chadwick Boseman Said He Stopped Marvel From Giving T'Challa A British Accent

    "Like, if I speak with a British accent, what's gonna happen when I go home?"

    Ikran Dahir
    by Ikran Dahir

    BuzzFeed News Reporter

    Chadwick Boseman appeared on the Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast where he said he personally convinced Marvel to let Wakandans have an African accent in the film.

    Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images

    Boseman, who plays T'Challa aka the Black Panther himself, said: "I decided in my research that the Wakandans would speak with a click. Because some of the languages that have clicks are amongst the oldest in the planet."

    Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

    "I wanted that sound in there. There's different groups but the South African one brought with it this feeling of things that we knew.

    "It makes you think of Mandela, you know, it makes you think of that sort of esteem, so there a dynamic there so you can be a symbol of peace.

    "He wasn't always a symbol of peace, but there's this symbol of peace along with this warrior.

    "So I was sure about this that it was Xhosa, Xhosa, Xhosa."

    Referring to Marvel, he continued: "They felt like that it was maybe too much for the audience to take. They felt like, Would people understand it through a whole movie? And if we do it now, we're stuck with it."

    Kevin Winter / Getty Images

    The initial plans for Black Panther was for his character to speak with either a British or an American accent.

    "I felt the exact opposite," Boseman said. "Like if I speak with a British accent, what's gonna happen when I go home? It felt to me like a dealbreaker.

    "Having gone through similar situations before where I was willing to, like, stand up for it I was like, well here we go again.

    "So for them I don't think it was that deep, I think it was an opinion.

    "No, this is such an important factor that if we lose this right now what else are we going to throw away for the sake of making people feel comfortable

    "So yes that was a huge thing — once we decided to do it, we went for it."

    So that's that.

    Marvel / Via giphy.com