The devotion that Lupita Nyong'o extends to her craft is well-known. So, it comes as no surprise that the Kenyan-Mexican actress gave her heart and soul to her latest film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In fact, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film needed Lupita to undergo serious training sessions, including a particularly challenging underwater training routine for her role as the Wakandan spy Nakia. Now, the Oscar-winning actress has opened up about the experience in a social media post. Lupita Nyong'o has documented the training process that involved underwater weight training and breathwork sessions. The video begins with Lupita holding a dumbbell in her hand while swimming in the pool. The swimming is then replaced with crawling and walking underwater as the dumbbells remain in her hands.
The video contains the text bubble, “How I trained to swim in Wakanda Forever,” and features the song Con La Brisa by Foudeqush and Ludwig Goransson in the background. The track was also featured in the film.
In the caption, Lupita Nyong'o said, “Swimming down to Talokan was not as easy as it looked! Safely supervised by XPT Life and #MarkRobertsFitness #wakandaforever #blackpanther #talokan #underwater #fittok #behindthescenes.” Replying to the post, producer Will Packer said, “I definitely would have died 3x.” Actress Aja Naomi King said, “Ok..but why am I holding my breath while watching this.”
After this video, Lupita Nyong'o shared another clip of her working out and rehearsing with disk-like instruments in her hands. In the caption, she wrote: “Learning to fight in Wakanda be like…”
Watch the video here:
The underwater training sessions were particularly important given that several of Wakanda Forever's crucial scenes take place underwater. This is because the primary antagonist of the film Namor rules and lives in the deep-sea land of Talokan. Sharing a bunch of images from the sets of this mythical land, Lupita Nyong'o said, “Hello from Talokan.”
Recently, Lupita Nyong'o also shared a video with co-star Winston Duke on the last day of the shoot. In the clip, Winston said that while it may be his last day, his heart is in Wakanda forever. In the caption, she said, “We were in Wakanda forever, and now #WakandaForever is yours.”
Lupita Nyong'o is best known for her roles in films such as 12 Years a Slave, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Black Panther, among others. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 12 Years a Slave.