Marvel’s Kevin Feige Reacts To ‘Black Panther’ Best Picture Oscar Nomination

Today, Black Panther earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige reacted to the historic achievement during an interview with the New York Times.

While The Dark Knight, Wonder Woman, and Logan were widely regarded as being worthy nominees for their respective release years, neither film managed to earn recognition from the Academy in the Best Picture category. Now, nearly a year after debuting to record-breaking box office success and becoming an instant pop culture phenomenon, Marvel’s Black Panther has made history by becoming the first comic book adaptation to earn a Best Picture Oscar nomination. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige shared his reaction to the nomination, having set his alarm to watch the televised announcement:

“I’m feeing a sense of pride and humility and immense gratitude.”

While the Academy did not recognize Ryan Coogler for his work on the film with a Best Director or Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, Kevin Feige praised the filmmaker and commended him for what he achieved with Black Panther:

“To me, the best thing a producer can do is find a person with something to say, who has a story to tell and can tell it in a way that the world responds to. That’s what Mr. Coogler has done for us.”

Black Panther scored a total of seven Oscar nomination and producer designer Hannah Beachler was among those who were recognized for their work on the film, becoming the first African-American to be nominated in her category. Kevin Feige recalled their meeting with Beachler how she impressed them with her vision:

“She was hired in the room. I knew she’d never worked on a film this large before and had concerns about that, but we wanted to give her a chance to come in and pitch her vision for the movie. She came in and blew us away instantly. Journeys don’t get better than that.”

The 91st Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, February 24, on ABC.

Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” follows T’Challa who, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king. But when a powerful old enemy reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king—and Black Panther—is tested when he is drawn into a formidable conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people and their way of life.

Directed by Ryan Coogler from a script he co-wrote with Joe Robert Cole, Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Sterling K. Brown, Florence Kasumba, John Kani, with Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis.

Black Panther is now available on Digitial HD, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray, and DVD.

Source: New York Times