Lupita Nyong’o pays tearful tribute to late Black Panther co-star Chadwick Boseman

Lupita Nyong’o broke down in tears as she paid tribute to her late Black Panther co-star Chadwick Boseman.

The 41-year-old actress insisted she doesn’t “run away from the tears or the grief” when thinking about the late actor, who passed away from colon cancer in 2020 aged 43, but she hasn’t been able to watch the 2018 Marvel movie since he passed away.

Speaking at a BFI London Film Festival QnA about her career, she said: “I haven’t seen the film since Chadwick died.”

Lupita composed herself, and continued: “The grief is just the love.

“There’s no place to put it. I don’t run away from the tears or the grief. You just live with it.

“I don’t know whether I’ll ever be done shedding my tears from losing my friend, but I’m also like, wow, we get to see him [in the film].

“We get to see him alive. And that’s so wonderful.”

Lupita also talked about how she was in talks to appear in a different Marvel movie when the opportunity to star in Black Panther first came about.

Speaking about her initial conversation with director Ryan Coogler, she said: “So I got on the phone with Ryan, and he walked me through this story about this fictional African country, and his idea of making it even more politically astute and relevant than the comic book that it was based off of.

“And when he finished, I said, ‘Wait — this is a Marvel movie? This is Disney?’

“And he’s like, ‘Yeah.’ And I’m like, ‘Is this your wish or is this what they [agreed to]?’

“And he was like, ‘No, no, no, they’re on board!

“So I knew from the beginning, we’re onto something incredible.”