7 Things You Need to Know About 'Black Panther' Director Ryan Coogler

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At one point in Black Panther, we are taken to the streets of Oakland as opposed to the Harlem-based origin story of the comics. For Coogler, that switch made sense, as this is a city he knew well from childhood. Coogler was born in Oakland in 1986, and it was there where he fell in love with comic books, telling The Washington Post that one day he "went to the comic book shop that was by my school and asked if they had any black characters." That was when he was introduced to the Black Panther character.

During his graduate year at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Oscar Grant was fatally shot by BART Police in Oakland. That tragic story, of course, became the subject of Coogler's first film, Fruitvale Station, which was shot on location in Oakland.

Coogler spent his youth playing football and got a scholarship at Saint Mary's College of California to play wide receiver. It was there that Coogler said his English professor, Rosemary Graham, pulled him aside to discuss some of his creative writing. Graham told young Ryan that he should pursue writing and getting into film; he was always a fan of film, recalling going to the movies with his parents at the age of five or six.

That one moment put Coogler on the path to attending the USC School of Cinematic Arts, which led to him creating a strong string of short films, all of which helped him become the in-demand Hollywood director he is today. 

While the idea of applying football (and sports in general) to life isn't new, it's dope to see how much of an impact the sport has had on Coogler. He mentions it often when giving interviews about how he approaches his craft. Here's how Coogler described working on a set to The Undefeated: "As wide receiver, a lot of times you run routes where you can’t even see the ball. You just got to hope that it’s there when you turn your head. You got to trust your teammates to do their job. You’ve got to trust that the lineman is going to block. You’ve got to trust that the quarterback is going to have the right read. And then when… the ball is in the air, you got to catch it. All those things, when it comes to filmmaking? It’s direct preparation."

Coogler even used a football metaphor when speaking to Complex. When we tried to get insight on the possibility of a Black Panther sequel, he replied with his experience on running hitch routes and why he'd drop passes when he was thinking too far into what he'd do after he caught the ball. Essentially, he, and by default we, won't know until he turns his head to catch the opportunity. For now he's just focused on what's in front of him. 

Once Coogler decided to focus on becoming a filmmaker, he had to turn his creative writing into scripts. Problem was, he didn't know how to make that stylistic transition. He says that he bought Pulp Fiction on DVD, and realized that the film's screenplay was available when you put the DVD into a computer. Coogler says he studied the structure of that screenplay and mimicked it when writing his first script.

For anyone wondering what the relationship status is of Hollywood's newest hot young director, please know that he's 100% taken, marrying Zinzi Evans in May of 2016. Like Coogler, Evans is a filmmaker herself, working in assistant director and producer capacities on the short film Locks, as well as working on Coogler's 2015 film, Creed.

They currently do not have any children, but Coogler recently told The YBF that he realized he wants daughters "real, real bad." Why? He told the site that he "thought, making Fruitvale (Station), I want kids," but after working on Black Panther (which has a number of awesome women in the cast, including Lupita Nyong'o, Angela Bassett, and Letitia Wright) he realized that he has to "have some daughters."

At some points, certain directors can find a way to make a particular actor shine. Think Scorsese and DiCaprio (or Scorsese and De Niro, for that matter), or Spike Lee's work with Denzel Washington. Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan are embarking on a similar working relationship, to the point where Coogler's three feature films (Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther) all feature Michael B. Jordan in a starring role.

At ComplexCon 2017, Jordan spoke about trusting Coogler with his well-being during their projects and credits Coogler with giving him the "self-confidence" to take up the mantle of directing himself. That doesn't mean the pair are done working together; Coogler's upcoming fourth film, Wrong Answer (about a 2013 standardized-test cheating scandal in Atlanta), is set to star Michael B. Jordan and is being authored by Black Panther comic book writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Coogler's currently on a hot streak, at least when you look at film critic aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. According to their ratings, he's produced nothing but "Certified Fresh" projects: Fruitvale Station is currently at 94 percent, with Creed sitting pretty at 95 percent, and Black Panther owning the throne with a 96 percent "Fresh" rating. That's a phenomenal track record. With fans being just as happy with his projects as the critics, Coogler looks set to have a bright future that can only get brighter, especially if he continues to examine black identity and struggle within his work.