'Black Panther' star reveals he split his pants wrestling Chadwick Boseman when they first met

Yahoo Entertainment
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On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Monday, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star Winston Duke spoke about the first time he worked with the late Chadwick Boseman. At his final audition for the original Black Panther movie, Duke was asked to wrestle Boseman.

“We were going through the scenes,” Duke explained, “and they’re like, ‘We just want to see how you guys are gonna be together, like, you know, how you’re gonna play. So could you, like, wrestle or something? Could you wrestle around?’ And I’m like, okay. Alright. If that’s gonna get me this job, I’m gonna wrestle.”

But that didn’t quite go as Duke thought it would.

“We start wrestling, and he’s a martial artist so he can hold his own, you know what I mean?” Duke said. “I wrestled all through high school, and started a little bit in college, and I got in there and I crouched down, and the first thing that happened was my pants split open.”

Video Transcript

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WINSTON DUKE: We were going through the scenes. And they're like, we just want to see how you guys are going to be together, you know, how are you going to play. So could you like wrestle or something? Could you wrestle around? And I'm like, OK, all right.

KYLIE MAR: "Black Panther-- Wakanda Forever" star Winston Duke joined "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" Monday, where he spoke about the first time he met the late Chadwick Boseman at his final audition for the original "Black Panther" movie, at which they were asked to wrestle. And Duke had quite a memorable audition.

WINSTON DUKE: We start wrestling. And he's a martial artist, so he can hold his own. You know I mean? I wrestled all through high school and like started a little bit in college. And I got in there, and I crouched down. And the first thing that happened was my pants split open.

KYLIE MAR: Clearly, it worked out, as Duke got the part. But he was just happy to leave an impression.

WINSTON DUKE: When it comes to auditions, I was, like you know what, I don't have to book the job. I just have to win the room. I just have to win the room. If I know I win the room, they'll invite me back someday. You know what I mean?

JIMMY FALLON: Yeah.

WINSTON DUKE: So I always go into places, I say I need to win the room. And when I split my pants, I was like, I'm winning.

JIMMY FALLON: [LAUGHS]

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