Michaela Coel.Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Michaela Coelis on a mission in her first Marvel Cinematic Universe role.
The Emmy-winning British actress, known for her hit seriesI May Destroy You, will make her MCU debut inBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever, which hits theaters next month. And inthe cover story forVogue’s November 2022 issue, Coel revealed that she signed up to join directorRyan Coogler’s next installment in the franchise after learning that she’s be playing a queer role.
“That sold me on the role, the fact that my character’s queer,” Coel toldthe magazine in the piece, which dropped on Thursday. “I thought, ‘I like that, I want to show that to Ghana.’ "
Coel, 35, plays Aneka inBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever— a Dora Milaje captain and combat instructor who, in the comic books, falls in love with Ayo, one of her fellow all-female warriors.
Florence Kasumba portrays Ayo in the film. Though how their character’s story will play out on the big screen is being kept hush hush, in the comics, Dora Milaje members are forbidden for dating and their affair creates discord amongst the team.
In her interview withVogue, Coel said she views playing a queer character in a franchise as popular asBlack Pantheras an opportunity to help address antigay policies in Ghana, where her parents were born.
PHOTO: Malick Bodian/VoguePHOTO: Malick Bodian/Vogue
People say, ‘Oh, it’s fine, it’s just politics,’ " Coel noted, in reference to what the magazine described as Ghana’s parliament introducing “some of the most oppressive anti-LGBTQ+ legislation” in the entirety of the African continent. “But I don’t think it is just politics when it affects how people get to live their daily lives.”
Members of Ghana’s parliament in recent months introduced a bill that could make identifying as gay or as an LGBTQ+ allypunishable with up to five years in prison, according toVogueandThe Guardian.
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Coogler, 36 — who recently saidhe contemplated quitting the movie businessafter the death ofChadwick Boseman— toldVoguethat Coel proved a fit to portray Aneka inWakanda Foreverbecause she’s “kind of a rebel.”
“It made a lot of meta sense with Michaela being someone who is pushing the industry forward and carving out her own space,” he told the outlet.
Malick Bodian/Vogue
Coel’s casting in the MCU film marks something of a full-circle moment for the actress. She toldVogueshe had auditioned for the firstBlack Panthermovie while she was still studying acting in London.
“I think for a lot of people it was the first time we’d seen some sort of representation on a very mainstream platform about the magic of Africa, the magic of the people, our ancestors,” Coel said about the firstBlack Pantherfilm. “Coming here, you do feel something magical.”
The film was just as important for the people of Africa. In the piece, Coel and the feature’s writer dined in Ghana at a restaurant fittingly called Wakanda.
Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverhits theaters Nov. 11
source: people.com
