Letitia Wright On The Biggest Lessons Of 2020 And 'Black Panther' Rap Battles
Letitia Wright has learned a lot this year.
Specifically, she's learned about the need to make time for those you love and to appreciate the life we live. Triggered by the loss of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi in January, and then as the Coronavirus pandemic made its way into all of our lives, Wright was reminded to filter out the noise, to focus on what matters.
In a game of Ask Me Anything with ELLE, filmed on a sweltering day during a UK heatwave on July 31, ELLE's November cover star spoke of this lesson - which undoubtedly will take on new meaning now following the death of her Black Panther co-star Chadwick Boseman, who passed away on August 29 following a battle with colon cancer which he kept private from friends and fans.
Wright also reminisced about her time working on the record-breaking Marvel film, in which she played the sister Shuri of Boseman's character King T'Challa, recalling rap battles to Snoop Dogg's 'Drop It Like It's Hot' and then becoming starstruck when the rapper himself attended the premiere. Wright assures us, she didn't perform her rap for him though.
As the year continued and the death of George Floyd led to uprisings in the form of Black Lives Matter movements and marches, Wright also spoke of another lesson she's learned: Speaking out for justice. You don't have to be the loudest, she says, but you can protest through your actions too.
With this in mind, Wright's latest role is particularly timely. Starring as Trinidadian British Black Panther leader Altheia Jones in Steve McQueen's film series Small Axe - which follows London's Caribbean community between the 1960s and 1980s - Wright portrays the woman who was charged as part of the 'Mangrove Nine' and then acquitted. The event, depicted in the Mangrove film of the series, led to a judge acknowledging racism in the Metropolitan police force for the first time.
To see Wright talking about all of this, as well as answering fan's questions and discussing her first experience of the Met Gala, bumping into Frank Ocean at a pizza place in New York and working the crème de la crème of British comedy in the upcoming Death On The Nile film, watch our video above.
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