Djimon Hounsou Ready to Star In Live-Action Black Panther, Please

Elizabeth Grunewald

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Oct 4, 2010
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Djimon Hounsou Ready to Star In Live-Action Black Panther, Please

Having already voiced the Marvel character Black Panther in an animated series, Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator) wants to bring the superhero to life on the big screen.

Djimon Hounsou is familiar with T'Challa, the Marvel superhero Black Panther; the actor has already voiced the character in an animated series for network BET. The actor recently told io9 his participation in the series was intended to stir up interest for a feature film, saying "that was the idea: using it as a leverage to tell a feature story."

The Oscar-nominated Hounsou very much wants the picture to be made, telling io9, "He's a king, he's a man of the people, and he's very powerful - he challenges himself throughout his kingdom, and I think that's rare when the king puts his own life [on the line] and challenges [people] to beat him, in order to see [who's] the best out there... He's really cool. He comes from a world in Africa that is cool, and has all those minerals and it's very exciting. It's just a matter of time for that to be realized." Presently, there are no plans for a Black Panther film, but as the character has fought alongside the Avengers, T'Challa would fit in nicely in any hypothetical Avengers sequels. Hounsou may run some steep competition, as he's not the only actor coveting the role; Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost) has also expressed an interest in portraying the king of Wakanda.

Hounsou is set to return to theaters this month in The Tempest, directed by Julie Taymor. If that name sounds familiar, it's because she's the visionary director behind Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, Broadway's most expensively funny musical.


Source: MTV Splash Page [http://io9.com/5704743/djimon-hounsou-still-wants-to-be-your-live+action-black-panther]

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Soviet Heavy

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Jan 22, 2010
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I like Hounsou. He is a decent actor who can hold both a dramatic role or an action role.

Is The Tempest adapting Shakespeare? Or is it just a different movie that happens to share the same name?
 

SomebodyNowhere

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Dec 9, 2009
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Seems like as good a guy as any to play Black Panther. Hopefully it works out well, but lately more and more my hope in movies based on comic books being good has been wearing tremendously thin.
 

ChromeAlchemist

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Aug 21, 2008
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I think Hounsou would be better than Ecko, aesthetically anyway. And I approve of this greatly, since Snipes is too busy running from the IRS (or doing his time, I can't keep up) to play the role. Hounsou can fill the void.
 

Nerf Ninja

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Dec 20, 2008
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I like him as an actor and he would be a good choice, (Much better than Snipes) wouldn't mind seeing him in a remake of Blade either to be honest.

Is it wrong that I keep reading his name as Digimon though?
 

Sovvolf

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Mar 23, 2009
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I've been hearing about a Black Panther movie for years now and Djimon Hounsou as, for as long as I can remember, been pursuing the role. I seriously hope they make a movie and I seriously hope he gets the role. I think he deserves it, he's a really good actor.
 

Orthon

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Mar 28, 2009
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Seen him in two movies, Blood Diamond and Gladiator. I liked him in both, would like to see more of him.

Can't say anything about the Black Panther though, haven't heard of it before. But I shall investigate.
 

AvsJoe

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May 28, 2009
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I am immediately interested in watching any film starring Hounsou. The man is among the best actors out there as far as I'm concerned.
 

Markgraf

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You know, it's too bad the Black Panther is constantly overshadowed by Luke Cage, John Stewart's Green Lantern and War Machine on the scale of Black superheros.
 

manythings

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Nov 7, 2009
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I can't see the part going to Adewale, even though Mr. Eko was seriously bad-ass, he is meant to be an absolute prick and a nightmare to deal with.

EDIT: Wasn't there another guy? Black Cat's father who was called the Black Panther? One of the Scientists who worked on the super soldier formula?
 

wammnebu

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Sep 25, 2010
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YES! finally, please make the movie. and please dont make him chummy with all the other marvel characters, you cant have the black panther without hiss indifference towards other heroes.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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Truthfully I felt Gladiator cut around too much to give me a good grasp of how well he can do choreography. I mean he's cool and all, but this is a very physical character, and no matter how well he can act to me it's going to blow chips if they wind up billing him and then we spend most of what should be an action movie watching stunt doubles. Either that or their option would be to try and turn it into a drama as opposed an an action movie, and really it should be an action movie given who it's about.

If the guy hasn't studied martial arts and acrobatics, I'd imagine he should get started, and if he has studied them, he should make sure he's in the shape of his life.

That said, I have to wonder if this guy is being coached (someone suggesting a career move for him) or doesn't speak english well without a script. The Black Panther does not have "all those minerals" his kingdom has one mineral of note called "Vibranium" and it's from a crashed meteor. It absorbs and releases kinetic energy and one part of the metallic alloy used for Captain America's shield which is also why Cap can bounce it off objects like he does, and why it can hit with such amazing force because it's amplifying the kinetic output (a bit has been written about it here and there). The bit about "The Black Panther" challenging people *was* true at one time, but that's more or less ancient history. T'challa (The Black Panther) was testing himself against opponents to see if he was ready to don the mask of his people's super hero/protector. He lured The Fantastic Four to Wakanda, since Reed Richards wanted to check out the Vibranium. He seperated the team and lured the into traps individually to prove he could defeat superhumans, and then proceeded to get his rear handed to him by Wyatt Wingfoot (I think he was the guy) who was a non-superhuman who came along with them and was totally underestimated.

Since then, The Black Panther has more or less acted as a champion of his people and a more straightforward super hero. He's not used all that heavily because he's usually tied up in affairs of state, but gets involved if his kingdom is threatened, or some world threatening crisis appears. I could be wrong, but I don't think he runs around challenging people to prove he's the strongest for the heck of it anymore. He did that for very specific reasons when he was first being introduced.

I'm not the world's foremost expert on the character, but this guy seems like he knows very little about the guy he wants to play. I'd half suspect an agent told him "hey, super hero movies are hot! Here is a guy we think you could play" and then coached him based on decades old comics, to make a pitch for a movie nobody was expecting to be made.

Truthfully though I think "Old Spice Guy" (Isaih Mustafa ) would probably work for this role better as T'challa was educated overseas and he can play very refined going by those commercials. From what I saw he'd be horrible as Luke Cage (who is "ghetto" and started his career as a hero being imprisoned for crimes he didn't committ, being experimented on, and escaping to clear his name) which is a role he's considering, but would probably be able to pull this one off, assuming of course he can do the choreography to hold down an action movie.
 

Lono Shrugged

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May 7, 2009
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I think he would be great for the role but the movie would be terrible. It would just be a cheesy patronising film.

Now if he did the character from the new Unknown Soldier comic then I would be stoked.
 

AbsoluteVirtue18

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Jan 14, 2009
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Digimon, Digimon Hounsou, Digimon wants to play Black Panther.

[sub][sub]Eh, doesn't match up too well.[/sub][/sub]

I think he'd be great!
 

diddykonger

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Jan 14, 2009
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If there is a good script written for a Black Panther movie, I think Djimon will be perfect for the role as T'Challa
 

Kinokohatake

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Jul 11, 2010
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We get this god awful Yogi Bear shitfest of a movie but they aren't even in talks to do Black Panther?
 

Onyx Oblivion

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Sep 9, 2008
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I'd watch it. Hell, as long as he isn't played by Denzel Washington.

Abrigimon Hounsou would be a perfect fit. Absolutely perfect.


Sorry...I've been watching this every day, and can't get it out of my head. Especially when I see Jack and Calumon on the Escapist or on PS3.