How did Denzel Washington Save Black Panther?

This is why Chadwick Boseman is fully indebted to Denzel...

Transcript

00:00And I've basically been holding this secret my whole career.

00:30After filming the first two episodes, execs of the show called me into their offices and told

00:35me how happy they were with my performance. I decided to ask them some simple questions about

00:41the background of my character. If we're around here assuming that the black characters in the

00:46show are criminals on drugs and deadpeat parents, then that would probably be stereotypical,

00:52wouldn't it? I left the office. I shot the episode I had come in to shoot on that day. Probably the

00:58best one I did out of the three because I got what was bothering me off my chest. I was let

01:05go from that job. On the next day, a call, a phone call from my agent. They decided to go another way.

01:29And I've basically been holding this secret my whole career. When I came back,

01:35I got a beneficiary letter and it said Denzel Washington paid for you. And I was like, what?

01:51Early on in my career, I auditioned for a part in a Broadway musical.

01:56So I start, you know, I'm going to sing.

02:08I didn't get the job.

02:12But here's the thing. I didn't quit. I didn't fall back. I walked out of there to prepare for

02:22the next audition and the next audition and the next audition. I prayed, I prayed and I prayed,

02:29but I continued to fail, fail and fail. But it didn't matter because, you know what,

02:33there's an old saying, you hang around the barbershop long enough,

02:36sooner or later you're going to get a haircut. So you will catch a break.

02:52And what did you say to him? He was like, well, I haven't met you yet. And I said, yeah,

03:09I got to tell you something. You know, you pay for me to go to school. He said,

03:12oh, oh, so that's why I'm here. You owe me money.

03:23The Black Panther I showed it to. And the 40 years I've been in this game came back to me.

03:30I said, man, look at these young boys, man. And I actually just started. I was like,

03:37you know, Sydney to now. But it was like, man, I felt like the third leg of the relay race.

03:44Like, yeah, go. Now I ran behind him. I'm still running. But I was like, man, they gone.

03:50You never know who you touch and where they might end up. I had no idea that,

03:55you know, it would work out this way and look where Chad is now.

03:58And I'm glad to be in a very small way a part of it.

04:15So imagine receiving the letter that your tuition for that summer was paid for and that

04:25your benefactor was none other than the dopest actor on the planet.

04:31There is no Black Panther without Denzel Washington.

04:34And not just because of me, but my whole cast, that generation stands on your shoulders.

04:49The daily battles won, the thousand territories gained, the many sacrifices you made for the

04:56culture on film sets through your career, the things you refused to compromise along the way

05:02laid the blueprints for us to follow. And so now let he who has watered

05:10be watered. Let he who has given be given to. It is an honor to now know you, to learn from you,

05:21enjoying in this work with you. May God bless you exceedingly and abundantly more

05:27in what's in store than he ever has before.