Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman hailed the film’s effect on the industry saying the cast knew they had “something special that we wanted to give the world”.
He and the rest of cast collected the award for an outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture at the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAGs).
The film is the first superhero movie to win the best ensemble prize.
.@theblackpanther takes home the Actor® for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture! #sagawards 🎭
Great and moving speech from @chadwickboseman 💪 pic.twitter.com/Nw2UGbs712
— TNT Drama (@tntdrama) January 28, 2019
Taking to the stage, Boseman said: “Well I’ll be, I didn’t think I was going to have to speak.
“And this cast, this ensemble that when I think of going to work every day and the passion and the intelligence, the resolve, the discipline that everybody showed…
“I also think of two questions we have received during multiple publicity runs, one was, did we know that this movie was going to receive this kind of response, was it going to make a billion dollars and was it still going to be around during awards season?
“And the second question is has it changed the industry? Has it actually changed the way this industry works? How it sees us?
“And my answer to that is…to be young, gifted and black.
“Because all of us up here know what it’s like to be told there is not a place for you to be featured, yet you are young gifted and black.
“We know what it’s like to be told there’s not a screen for you to be featured on, a stage for you to be featured on.
“We know what it’s like to be the tail and not the head, to be beneath and not above and that is what we went to work with every day.
“Because we knew that we had something special that we wanted to give the world. That we could create a world that exemplified a world that we wanted to see.
He added: “It’s a pleasure to be celebrated by you, to be loved by you. One thing I do know, did it change the industry, you can’t have a Black Panther now without a 2 on it.”
Letitia Wright, who stars in the film and has been treading the boards in The Convert at the Young Vic Theatre, tweeted her congratulations to her cast members.
My black panther family, congratulations! Praises go up to God always.Very grateful for the love and support always #sagawards
Young.Gifted & Black ✊🏾 https://t.co/f14RMQS3oS
— Letitia Wright (@letitiawright) January 28, 2019
She tweeted: “My black panther family, congratulations! Praises go up to God always. Very grateful for the love and support always #sagawards Young.Gifted & Black “.
Another cast member, Angela Bassett, also expressed her delight at the win on Twitter.
She tweeted: “Won’t He Do It? God blessed us REAL Good! #WakandaForever”.
The film is nominated for seven Oscars, among them the acclaimed best picture gong.
It was also a hit across the world, drawing in more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office.