Ryan Coogler believes that being an athlete before becoming a filmmaker helped him to work harder than others at his craft. During a recent appearance on the All The Smoke podcast (around the 8:50 mark), the Sinners and Black Panther director opened up about his transition from sports to filmmaking after an injury and how he was able to be successful.
“My experience as an athlete enabled me to outwork anybody who I met,” claimed Coogler. “People would complain about 12 hour days and for us (referring to host Matt Barnes) we’re never off. I did appreciate that aspect of it. And I kind of looked at everything from an athletic perspective.”
Coogler went into detail about how different sports and filmmaking are. “They would bring me in the classroom and be like, ‘This is the most competitive environment that you’ll ever be in.’ And I’m like, 'What? Nobody’s trying to hit me,'” said Coogler. “When you’re playing sports, somebody is trying to actively stop you physically. It's none of that in this. It’s time and money.”
“So I was looking around and I was like, I can really do something here,” continued Coogler. “It was helpful for me to go straight from sport to film once I was able to navigate the mental.”
Later on in the interview, Coogler reflected on what it was like to work with Chadwick Boseman before his death.
“He changed my life,” said Coogler. “He was a meditator and a martial artist, and he was extremely in control of his ability to focus.”
“When you were with him, he wasn't the type of dude to be checking his phone and be distracted,” Coogler continued. “He was the single most focused person I ever met.”