Black Panther ’s Winston Duke Just Coined a New Word

The Black Panther cast is full of ringers, but Winston Duke’s M’Baku—a challenger for the throne of Wakanda who eventually morphs into a much needed ally for T’Challa himself—still manages to command the screen. Creating a character that’s charismatic, statuesque, and slyly funny (particularly when he’s gleefully terrorizing the flustered CIA agent played by Martin Freeman), Duke gives a performance that instantly cemented him as an actor to watch. Just a few months after Black Panther annihilated the box office, fans were delighted when Duke appeared once again as M’Baku in the climactic battle of Avengers: Infinity War. (Don’t worry—he made it out alive.)

The instant success of M’Baku makes it all the more striking that Black Panther was actually Duke’s big-screen debut. Prior to the movie, Duke was best known as a TV actor, with short arcs on shows like Person of Interest and Modern Family. But his scene-stealing breakout has made him one of the year’s hottest actors. Next March, he’ll star in Us, Jordan Peele’s highly anticipated follow-up to the best-picture-nominated Get Out.

How hot is Winston Duke right now? Just two days after we spoke, it was announced that Duke would star in two more upcoming projects: an action thriller called Heroine and a Netflix crime drama called Wonderland, with Mark Wahlberg. On one of his increasingly rare breaks from filming, we had a lengthy chat about the crazy, thrilling year Winston Duke has had.

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Black Panther's Winston Duke Shows Us His 10 Essentials

GQ: People have this sense that you become a “breakout success” overnight, but they rarely have a sense of the work that leads up to it. What was your life as an actor like before Black Panther?
Winston Duke: At that point, since graduate school [in Yale’s drama program]…probably over 300 auditions under my belt, 400 auditions. Sometimes they only last two minutes. You just go through the scene one time, and they say, “Thank you, that was really great.” “Uh…do you have any notes?” “No, no, no, I think that was fantastic. I wouldn’t change a thing.” And then you don’t hear back.

Are there any specific pre–Black Panther auditions that stand out in your mind?
I auditioned for [a movie with fake sides] that literally looked nothing like it would be for a space-opera adventure. Nothing that even seemed very futuristic. It felt more like a buddy-cop comedy. Kind of like 48 Hours. I found out months later it was a Star Wars audition.

So when did Black Panther come about?
I was told by my agent and representative that I was going in for an “untitled Marvel project.” I had no idea what I was auditioning for. I didn’t know what I was auditioning for until…maybe the third round of auditions. It was a director’s session, with [writer-director] Ryan Coogler and [executive producer] Nate Moore in the room. That’s when I realized it was Black Panther.

How did it feel, to have figured it out in that moment?
I was just shocked. At that point, this would be my biggest audition. And that’s when the nerves kicked in. I also had in my head at that time that if it’s a Marvel project, they most likely know who they want. It’s gonna go to someone bigger. Someone established. Someone with a big name. Someone with a lot more cachet than me—at that point—a TV actor with some theater under his belt.

What was the actual audition like?
[Ryan Coogler] kept having me go through the scenes over and over. “Could you do it this way?” “Could you do it that way?” “Could you make it a little bit more personal here?” “Could you make it more aggressive here? I’d like to see it with a little humor here.” At that time I had no idea what he wanted, but I do know as an actor I’m pretty flexible. If you want something, I’m pretty sure I can deliver. He put about 40 minutes into [the audition]—40 minutes of his time—helping to shape me as an artist. I said, “At the end of the day, I just got to work with Ryan Coogler. It’s already a big win.”

What happened the first time you screen-tested opposite another actor in the Black Panther cast?
[Star Chadwick Boseman] was my screen-test partner. Never met him before. I walked in there and I saw his face, and I’m like, “Oh, damn. It’s real.” They wanted us to wrestle around a little bit, and I didn’t expect to wrestle. I had these beads on my hand—like jewelry—and I wore boots and these cargo pants. And as we’re wrestling around, my pants split and my beads broke. And I was just like, “You know what, man? Go with it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Go with it. Champions adjust.”

How soon after that did you find out you had actually been cast in Black Panther?
I went home, and all the adrenaline came down, and I was like, “What just happened? What just happened? I don’t know what just happened. But it was great.” I took a shower, and I had this really wonderful sense of calm that washed over me. It was almost as if I heard the words: “Everything’s gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay in this path that you’ve chosen. If you got the job, great. If you didn’t, it just wasn’t for you. There’s nothing else that you could have done. You worry a lot, and it’s not easy, but you’re gonna be fine.” I’d never felt that before in my life. And I walked out of the shower at peace. And 48 hours later, we got the call.

Tell me about what it was like to sit down for the first table read with the whole Black Panther cast.
You try to imagine the people in those scenes. I’d try to imagine Angela Bassett saying some of the words, or Forest Whitaker, but it’s still you. You can’t imagine the choices that anyone else is gonna make. When I heard it the first time, I was like, “Whoa. These are legends speaking these words.” Then I said, “All right, my turn,” and I gave it all I had. That first read was something magical.

What was the first Black Panther scene you actually filmed?
The first day of filming for me was the end of the movie. Charging up the hill after I say, “Witness the might of the Jabari firsthand!” That was the first thing that we did. I come out, and I’m, like, breaking heads and powering through people. Playing with this newfound body that I’d developed over the last three or four months. I was probably 30 pounds heavier than I am right now.

How did you maintain M’Baku’s physique throughout filming?
I was on a really strict diet. Every 35 to 45 minutes, I’d have a meal. Usually, like, a sweet potato and some chicken. It was like a Swiss watch.

It sounds like Ryan Coogler ran a pretty tight ship.
There was nothing quick or dirty about it. It was all very meticulous and prepared. We had a lot of time to prep for everything. Which is the opposite of what happens with me now, doing the Avengers [films] and the Marvel-film schedule. I’ll be told sometimes, like, two weeks before I have to shoot that I’m even in the movie. You just have to be able to roll with the punches: “Aw, man, we just wrote you into this one. We just remembered that in issue 62, from blah, blah, blah in ’85, that M’Baku was there.”

And aside from your Marvel duties, you’re in Us, Jordan Peele’s big follow-up to Get Out. That’s another project that has been extremely top secret so far. Can you tell me anything about it?
It was incredibly easy to say yes. Jordan [Peele] is a beautiful mind, and an incredible talent, and an incredible director. It was beautiful. I think it’ll be a wonderful conversation piece for 2019. It’s definitely a Jordan Peele–brand movie. It’s a thoughtful, psychological, impactful experience. Peeleian—that’s gonna become a word in the film lexicon very soon. You’re gonna say, ‘Aw, man, this feels very Jordan Peeleian.’ ”

Is it hard that basically all of your big film roles have required this incredible level of secrecy?
Yeah. It’s really not changing. It’s been hard, but I think I’m used to all the cloaked questions that come when people are trying to dig. I get it on the street. I get asked so many times a day, “When they making the next Black Panther? Is that even happening?” “I can’t say.” “How much money did you make?” “Okay, that’s none of your business.”

When did you find out about the crazy twist at the end of Avengers: Infinity War?
I learned while watching it. I didn’t get to read a script on that. I did not know a thing. I don’t think most of us knew.

So what did you think was happening when you filmed M’Baku’s reaction to Thanos wiping out half of the universe? Did they tell you anything?
“M’Baku is looking around and seeing a bunch of his Jabari warriors dissolving.” That’s all I was told. “You’re looking around and some of your guys are dissolving. Just react to that.” I was like, “Okay…my people mean everything to me. I can react to that.” That’s all I did in that moment. I didn’t know it was, like, half the universe.

At least M’Baku was in the half that survived.
I knew I didn’t film a death scene, so I was happy. They didn’t make me go, like, [affects a raspy voice] “Uggggghhh, I’m dying!”

That sounded really good!
Oh God. Don’t say that! I don’t want him to die yet.