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Black Panther star Letitia Wright spoke about the “traumatic” injury she suffered while filming Wakanda Forever, but did not clear up lingering questions over her Covid-19 vaccination status.
A new Variety cover story on Wakanda Forever offers some fresh insight into a particularly intense period for the film, which was still grappling with the sudden 2020 death of Chadwick Boseman. It began in August 2021, when Wright was filming a chase sequence in Boston with the second unit (director Ryan Coogler was working with the main crew in Atlanta at the time). The “biscuit rig” being used to film Wright while she was riding a motorcycle hit a median and “sheared the bike off, and it tumbled,” as producer Nate Moore explained.
Wright landed in the hospital with several injuries, including a fractured shoulder and a concussion. “I’m still processing it,” Wright said. “I’m still working through it in therapy. It was really traumatic.”
Still, Wright was determined to finish the movie. Recalling a visit Coogler and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige paid her in the hospital, Wright said, “I just remember wanting to finish my film, man. I think that was one of the first things I said to Ryan. And he was like, ‘Tish, you need to recover.’”
At the time, the reports about Wright’s injury were downplayed, with Marvel only saying she has “sustained minor injuries.” The production continued apace, focusing on scenes that didn’t involve her as she recovered in London. She eventually returned to production in January 2022.
“I had great, great, great medical support, great patience on set,” Wright said. “I’m just extremely proud of myself. I’m extremely proud of Ryan, of the team, for just the resilience — overcoming adversities every step of the way… When I finished filming, I cried like a little baby.”
During Wright’s recovery, however, a Hollywood Reporter story rocked the production with claims that Wright hadn’t received the Covid-19 vaccine and had expressed skepticism about the shot on set. (She’d previously tweeted, then deleted, a video of a vaxx-skeptic, in December 2020.) Wright called the story “completely untrue” on Instagram at the time, though didn’t actually confirm if she was vaccinated.
When asked about her vaxx status for the interview, Wright’s publicist reportedly interrupted the call and asked the reporter to move to the next question. A rep for Wright then said the actress would answer email questions about the vaccine stories, but after they were sent, the rep said Wright would be unable to respond due to “schedule changes.” The rep then highlighted Wright’s Instagram post calling the story “completely untrue.” (A rep for Wright did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.)
As for others who might be able to corroborate on-set rumors, co-star Angela Bassett said she never heard Wright talking about vaccines during production. Moore also said he never asked Wright about her vaccine status and still doesn’t know it — even though reports previously stated the entire cast was required to be vaccinated for filming.
“It’s not a question we asked of anybody, to be quite honest,” Moore said. “She never talked about her views either way. We read the stories that I would argue were unfair, because I don’t know where they’re coming from. As someone who literally is on set next to the monitor all the time, I feel like I would have heard it.”
