BLACK PANTHER—AND BERNANS—ROAR ONTO THE SCENE In Black Panther, Bernans is a member of the Dora Milaje, who are the personal bodyguards of the Black Panther. In addition to their protective roles, they are also from a pool of superior Wakandan women. “Most of the Dora Milaje trained about four months, eight to 12 hours a day. I trained two to three weeks for about eight to 12 hours a day, then went straight to the set. I had to do a type of Warrior Book for Dummies-type thing to learn how to hold spears and how to work with the bow stock and other weapons that we used. “We did film some lines, had a lot more scenes and roles but none of that made it to the final cut. The movie, they edited it down from 5.5 hours—they had to get it to two hours plus. Some of my stuff got cut. When we film the sequel, I can have a bigger role, they can make my character whatever they want.” Bernans says her day during the production would begin about 5 a.m. “They would have to shave our head first because overnight you have a few stubbles grow up on your bald head so they had to make sure there was no hair whatsoever— that took between 15-30 minutes. We’d then go into makeup where they would put the tattoo on our faces first. That took 15-20 minutes to dry. After they did that, we would do probably two hours in makeup and getting into costume. Then they would drive us about an hour outside of Atlanta where it was filmed.” Bernans says she was on set for about a month and a half including rehearsal and actual filming.
ACT II
SO WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE ENERGETIC BERNANS?
As mentioned, she is on her way to see a casting director during this interview, something that has almost become a daily routine for her in Hollywood. She says staying in touch with directors and producers is the biggest thing in the industry. “I am auditioning every day. In the past two weeks I have auditioned
for some new pilots. Something is going to break, something is going to happen. I feel like I am on the brink of major success.” As far as her hair? “It has grown back full force,” she says with a laugh.
SPRING 2018 |
U N I V E RS I T Y O F M E M P H I S M AGA Z I N E
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