Ryan Coogler Will Speak If 'Black Panther' Wins Best Picture Oscar According To Kevin Feige

Should Black Panther walk away with the top award at this year's 91st Academy Awards, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige fully expects director Ryan Coogler to speak during the acceptance of the award.

In an interview with EW's The Awardistpodcast, Feige joked he'd make Coogler speak should the movie win Best Picture.

"He will have no choice," Feige said. "Without question — because it is Ryan's film, and it is Ryan's achievement. It would be a must. I would ask him, very kindly, to be there."

When asked what'd happen if Coogler turned down Feige's invite, the producer mentioned that he thought the Black Panther cast could prove persuasive.

"To be honest with you, I think the cast would [take care of] that for me," continued Feige. "They would pick him up and carry him up onto that stage."

All in all, Black Panther is nominated for seven Oscar awards, including nods for costume design, sound design, sound mixing, production design, and original song. Coogler, on the other hand, missed out on a Best Director nomination — but Feige says he doesn't think Coogler feels like he was snubbed.

"I think it is," Feige said. "Ryan is very pleased that the film [was honored] and he would much rather, if you ask him, see that his crew members be recognized, which so many of them were."

After critical and commercial success, Marvel Studios has since reportedly pushed a sequel into development. It'll be the first sequel Coogler has every directed and the filmmaker recognizes the pressures that will come along with it.

"I think the pressure is kind of always going to be there," Coogler said. "I've had a chance to make three feature films, each one of them had its own very specific type of pressure. In the process of it, it feels insurmountable each time."

"When it comes to making a sequel, I've never done it before, a sequel to something that I've directed myself," he continued. "So I think there's gonna be a lot of pressure there, but what we're going to try to do is just focus on the work, like we always do. Really try to go step by step and try to quiet everything else around us, really focus on trying to make something that has some type of meaning."

Do you think Black Panther will walk away with any Oscar wins? If so, which ones? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or by hitting me (@AdamBarnhardt) on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

Upcoming Marvel Studios films set for release this year include Captain Marvel on March 8th, Avengers: Endgame on April 26th, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th.

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