Lupita Nyong'o was affected by Chadwick Boseman's passing when preparing for A Quiet Place: Day One.
In the horror movie, Nyong'o plays a character with terminal cancer. The movie opens with her in hospice care before being trapped in Manhattan thanks to the alien invasion.
Talking to People, Nyong'o described the role as a “scary” place to go since the character “is really facing their mortality, even before this apocalypse takes place, and whose life is slipping between her fingers.”
“That was daunting to have to go there, psychologically and emotionally,” Nyong'o revealed.
In 2020, Boseman tragically passed away from colon cancer. That made the performance even more emotional for Nyong'o, whose Instagram profile picture is one of her with Boseman. However, she also found the experience to be “therapeutic.”
“In the end, it was actually very therapeutic because I had just experienced not too many years ago the death of Chadwick Boseman, which shook me to the core,” Nyong'o said. “I definitely was thinking about that a lot.
“What I came to realize is that it's really important to be reminded of our mortality because then we live life just a little more intentionally,” she continued. “When we think we have all the time in the world, we can really take people for granted and experiences for granted.”
Lupita Nyong'o and Chadwick Boseman's relationship
In the MCU's Black Panther series, Nyong'o plays Nakia. Boseman played T'Challa/the Black Panther beginning in 2016's Captain America: Civil War.
After first gaining notoriety for roles in Lincoln Heights and Persons Unknown, Boseman starred in 42 as Jackie Robinson. He followed that up with roles in Draft Day, Get On Up, and Gods of Egypt.
After starring in Civil War, Boseman got his own Black Panther solo movie in 2018. He would subsequently reprise the role in the next two Avengers movies, Infinity War and Endgame.
His final roles included 21 Bridges, Da 5 Bloods, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. For his performance in the last movie, he earned a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars.
While he passed away before the Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever, was released in 2022, he appeared in archival footage. Letitia Wright, who plays his on-screen sister, took over the Black Panther mantle and Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, and others got bigger roles as a result.
Lupita Nyong'o was an Oscar-winning actress before her Black Panther role. After appearing in the series Shuga from 2009-12, she gained widespread acclaim for her performance in 12 Years a Slave. For that performance, she won Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars.
She followed that up by starring in Non-Stop with Liam Neeson. Nyong'o then made her way to the galaxy far, far away by starring in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She reprised her role of Maz Kanata in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.
Her other notable credits include The Jungle Book, Us, and The 355. She stars in A Quiet Place: Day One with fellow MCU star Joseph Quinn.
A Quiet Place: Day One is in theaters.
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