ACTRESS Danai Gurira revealed that she hired an Olympic swimming coach to train for scenes in the newly released Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is currently playing in Malaysian theatres.
Gurira, who has been praised for her portrayal of Dora Milaje General Okoye in the sequel, said she was aware of a large number of scenes involving her swimming in ocean-set scenes.
So, she hired an Olympic swimming coach to refine her swimming skills for the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.
The 44-year old did not have to hire one, but she did so to improve her (swimming) stroke, technique, and speed. She sent a video clip to the director, Ryan Coogler, who was shocked and decided to “jump into the pool’ as well.
Coogler said that he felt that he needed to go along with the idea as many of his cast members had to train with free diving instructors and aquatic stunt teams. He had to figure out how to swim so that he could direct the movie.
Meanwhile, Gurira revealed that she learned that a statistic showed a Black child is five times more likely to drown than a Caucasian child, and as such, she wants to raise awareness that this is an important skill to learn.