Black Panther’s Danai Gurira Hires Olympic Swimming Coach

ACTRESS Danai Gurira revealed that she hired an Olympic swimming coach to prepare for scenes in a recently released movie. Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverwhich is now playing in theaters in Malaysia.

Gurira, who was praised for her role as General Dora Milahé Okoye in the sequel, said she was aware of the large number of scenes involving her swimming in the ocean scenes.

So she hired an Olympic swimming coach to hone her swimming skills for the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.

The 44-year-old didn’t need to hire him, but she did so to improve her (swimming) stroke, technique and speed. She sent the video clip to director Ryan Coogler, who was shocked and decided to jump into the pool too.

Coogler said he felt he needed to go along with the idea that many of his actors should train with freediving instructors and aquatic stunt teams. He had to learn how to swim to make the film.

Meanwhile, Gurira revealed that she has learned that statistics show that a black child is five times more likely to drown than a Caucasian child, and so she wants to raise awareness that this is an important skill to learn.