{"id":132769,"date":"2022-11-09T08:21:25","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T13:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=132769"},"modified":"2022-11-09T08:21:25","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T13:21:25","slug":"dayton-com-wakanda-forever-features-work-of-wright-state-alumna-production-designer-hannah-beachler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2022\/11\/09\/dayton-com-wakanda-forever-features-work-of-wright-state-alumna-production-designer-hannah-beachler\/","title":{"rendered":"Dayton.com: \u2018Wakanda Forever\u2019 features work of Wright State alumna, production designer Hannah Beachler"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Academy award winner and Wright State graduate Hannah Beachler. (Photo courtesy of Hannah Beachler)<\/p><\/div>\n

Production designer Hannah Beachler, a Centerville High School and Wright State University graduate, is very fond of her Oscar-winning contributions to the 2018 blockbuster \u201cBlack Panther\u201d but is equally proud of the creativity and teamwork behind the film\u2019s highly anticipated sequel \u201cWakanda Forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be released Nov. 11 and directed\/co-written by Ryan Coogler, \u201cBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever\u201d reportedly finds the kingdom of Wakanda fighting to protect their nation from invaders following the death of King T\u2019Challa. Meanwhile, a new threat arises from the hidden nation of Talokan, which borrows from the Atlantis mythology of a society driven into the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook forward to a new world that\u2019s been built,\u201d said Beachler, 52. \u201cI took two years to build this underwater world. Talokan comes from a real culture, an inspiration of those who have lost something in a very tragic way but have found triumph. They are a lot like Wakanda in that they have found a way to survive. It was very important that I got this new civilization right in the same way I approached Wakanda. I had to do as big of a deep dive as Wakanda because Talokan is specifically inspired by Mesoamerican and Mayan culture. I think it\u2019s going to be something really incredible and epic for people to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beachler is also eager for audiences to see new aircrafts, vehicles and spaces within the world of Wakanda which haven\u2019t been seen before, allowing the story to reach refreshing conceptual heights. However, she admits the 22-month process from pre-production to filming, which occurred in such locales as Atlanta and Puerto Rico, was not without its share of hurdles due to the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really hard and we had all just come off of being quarantined in 2020,\u201d she recalled. \u201cIt was challenging in every aspect you can possibly think of but in no different way that time period, and still to this day, is challenging for anyone else. We just had a giant movie on top of everything to keep straight. God doesn\u2019t give you anything more than you can handle, which is how we all pushed through. We were able to overcome everything as a team, especially with Ryan at the helm.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2013, Coogler made his acclaimed directorial debut with \u201cFruitvale Station,\u201d a gripping drama starring Michael B. Jordan based on the true story of Oscar Grant III. Beachler provided production design for the film and would go on to join Coogler for 2015\u2032s \u201cCreed\u201d and the aforementioned \u201cBlack Panther.\u201d She considers him one of her most meaningful collaborators because he brings out the greatest potential in his cast and crew with empowering authenticity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something very special, to me, about him being a Black man who has lifted up this Black woman \u2013 giving me agency, and the space, to create and allow me to be my best self,\u201d she said. \u201cHe has made me a better person as well as a better designer and storyteller. There\u2019s something very special about him that resonates with people. People feel something when he\u2019s talking, when he\u2019s saying truth, but I really think that\u2019s just Ryan being himself and not someone else. We\u2019re always so used to the mask in front that when you encounter somebody who doesn\u2019t need it, it feels like something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beachler also praises Coogler\u2019s passion and forward-thinking vision as factors that allowed \u201cBlack Panther\u201d to connect and inspire on numerous levels, ultimately becoming the game-changing Marvel superhero movie that earned $1.3 billion worldwide and seven Oscar nominations including best picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan created an enjoyable film you could watch simply for the entertainment or watch for the entertainment and the message presented,\u201d she said. \u201cThe intimacy of the characters \u2013 hearing them say things that feel, look and sound familiar \u2013 was also important along with the great technology. He braided all these elements together in a very eloquent, beautiful way that catches the imagination of young people while helping older generations imagine a better way, a better future, a better world. \u2018Black Panther\u2019 contains a truth that is not often found in fantasy films, a truth rooted in a resilience of a culture in a country deep beneath the fantasy of the Marvel comic universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New Orleans-based Beachler is the first African American to win an Academy Award for best production design. Her credits include \u201cMiles Ahead,\u201d \u201cDark Waters,\u201d \u201cNo Sudden Move,\u201d and the 2016 Academy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning best picture \u201cMoonlight.\u201d She also received an Emmy nomination for Beyonce\u2019s visual album \u201cLemonade.\u201d<\/p>\n

She admits to feeling pressure while working on \u201cWakanda Forever\u201d but remained motivated by forging ahead with renewed purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bar has been set high,\u201d she said. \u201cThe first \u2018Panther\u2019 did very well around the globe, took people by surprise, and won three Oscars, including one for (costumer) Ruth Carter. But one thing I did not do here, and one thing I never do, is rest on my laurels. I went back to zero, below the ground, to start. As great as the last \u2018Panther\u2019 was and all that happened with it, it didn\u2019t pertain to this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWakanda Forever\u201d aside, Beachler is excited for her theatrical debut designing \u201cMandela,\u201d a new musical directed by Dayton native Schele Williams (\u201cAida,\u201d \u201cMotown,\u201d \u201cThe Notebook\u201d) which begins performances in London\u2019s West End Nov. 29.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited about \u2018Mandela,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re bringing a sense of Afrofuturism into the story and not letting the audience off the hook with what apartheid has done. We\u2019re all culpable.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the release of \u201cWakanda Forever\u201d nears, Beachler says Chadwick Boseman\u2019s legacy loomed large during filming. The Oscar-nominated actor who portrayed T\u2019Challa\/Black Panther in the original film died in 2020 at age 43 following a private battle with colon cancer. She feels he would be proud of the sequel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost our Black Panther, the beautiful actor Chadwick Boseman, and, for me, I wanted to honor him in the design of Wakanda,\u201d she said. \u201cThe actors, and especially Ryan, were actively grieving through the process and remembering the good times with Chadwick and thinking always about what he would want or what he would do or some of the choices he would make and how he would react to some of the choices we made. (We wanted) to make sure his memory is never lost as the humanitarian he was for the Black culture, the actor he was for the young people coming up, and the chief Panther for all of our imaginations. This film is really about questioning how you live with grief and push through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

View the original story at dayton.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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Production designer Hannah Beachler, a Centerville High School and Wright State University graduate, is very fond of her Oscar-winning contributions to the 2018 blockbuster \u201cBlack Panther\u201d but is equally proud of the creativity and teamwork behind the film\u2019s highly anticipated sequel \u201cWakanda Forever.\u201d Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":132776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wright-state-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132769"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132780,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132769\/revisions\/132780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}