Y’all, we have a Bahamian in the Black Panther movie!
WE REPEAT…WE HAVE A BAHAMIAN IN THE BLACK PANTHER MOVIE!!!
The world is literally sitting at the edge of its seat waiting for the theatre doors to swing open and the movie to premiere tomorrow. The thing is, while everyone is eager to see some of Hollywood’s best dress up as fantasy superheroes and bring their Marvel dreams to life, Bahamians are stoked that one of them, will be one of us!
Stuntman and actor…AND (we’ll say it again) BAHAMIAN, Jason Elwood Hanna proudly carries the 242 on his back as part of this star studded cast. And just so you’re not doubting his “Bahmian-ness,” let us tell you how Bahamian he really is: his father is from Acklins, his mother is from Crooked Island, he was born in New Providence, he went to Claridge Primary and St. Anne’s schools and he knows how to say, “well muddoes!”
He’s a member of the Screen Actors’ Guild and can also be seen in FX’s Atlanta, Netflix’s Luke Cage Season 2 and Marvel’s Avengers Infinity War.
eLIFE242 caught up with the actor recently to get the scoop on his 15+ years in Hollywood!
eLIFE242: How did you get into acting, and more impressively, being a stunt man?
Jason: I was fascinated and trained in martial arts or a form of movement like gymnastics and at the age of 18 I began traveling outside of The Bahamas in order to meet other people in the martial arts community. I would save up any money I had gotten from parents, friends, the little work I could find until I could afford the tickets and money needed to travel for maybe a week here and a week there. In 2006 a decision was made to form a stunt training group that would span across both Canada and The Bahamas, inviting some of the best talent in stunts in our friends circles and we called that group Zanshin, a Japanese word which roughly translates into ” follow through ” in English.
eLIFE242: How much training must one have to be a stunt man? I’d imagine this is a very dangerous job?
Jason: In order for someone to call themselves a stunt performer and more importantly recognized by his peers to be a stunt performer, the person must be seen as an athlete of great physical and mental strength. The training involved varies from person to person, however the expectation of an aspiring stunt performer is one of great knowledge in several areas of movement and physics, such as knowledge in gymnastics, air awareness, martial arts and fighting, precision driving, the nature of fire and being on fire, diving and climbing. There are several other areas depending on a stunt performer’s experience in the business that a stunt performer must be well versed and experienced in before he is hired to work.
The Bahamian actor adds that last year he was blessed with so many employment opportunities with Marvel Studios. He adds this year we can also look forward to seeing him in Black Lightning on CW and the Avengers Infinity War untitled sequel in 2019.
Jason: I was notably in several Bahamian productions as well such as the Ministry of Tourism’s Island Challenge Magic Run directed by British director Sunny Midha and Kareem Mortimer’s recent movie ” Cargo.”
eLIFE242: Now let’s talk Black Panther! How did you get cast, what was your reaction upon getting this job, what’s the experience like of being in such a huge film? Tell us everything!
Jason: I don’t know which one of my friends, resumes sent, emails sent, audition tapes sent or casting directors forwarded my name to Andy Gill and Jonathan Eusebio, the head stunt coordinators on that movie. It’s a bit anti-climatic but they saw me and wanted to use me as part of the Wakanda Stunt Team which had me training and performing for 2 months on set in Georgia. I was very happy as you can imagine to be apart of this, it was my very first big feature and I am a huge Marvel and comic fan as well as an activist for black culture empowerment.
…It was a mixed bag of stress, happiness, exhaustion and anxiety. A lot of people are unaware of the pressure placed on performers to perform at high levels for several weeks and in our case a small team of 15 individuals had to make a 200 man battle sequence. My mornings began 4:00 a.m. every day in 22 degree weather. We planned out different scenarios and shot many different actions in order to give the director Ryan Coogler and editors chances to play with different feels for the action and tempo. Ultimately in this film I died 10 times in all sorts of interesting ways in order to make a battle with a few men look like a big chaotic battle with big armies.
eLIFE242: What do you like most about being a Bahamian and what do you miss most about home?
Jason: I do live in the U.S. now and honestly the best attribute about being a Bahamian for me is the carefree nature of island life and the ability to bring fun back to our own personal environments. Most people will scratch their heads about this, but for those that have traveled to New York or work in very stressful industries around the world, they understand there are very little smiles and genuine kindness when talking to people. The film industry can be cut throat and it is filled with fake friends looking to get ahead more so than keeping good company, and honestly that leads into what I miss most about home, THE PEOPLE. A smile from a Bahamian is worth so much more than one would assume, and I can honestly say I understand our appeal as a tourist destination.
eLife242: Conch fritters, conch salad or cracked conch?
Jason: Well muddoes! Out of all these questions, this has to be the toughest…aiight you know conch salad is number one!!
eLife242: Anything else we should know about you; what message do you wanna send to the 242?
Jason: I want to say to all Bahamian performers, artists and persons pursuing their passions, never give up. I get a lot of questions about the ” how?” or “what did you do?” as if my path is a universal answer for everyone’s situation. The truth is, progress is a step by step path of the individual, and before you can expect progress usually the answer is to become better at what you do and more importantly SHOW IT. Become so good that no one can ignore you, then make a step by step plan on how to turn that into something useful. Don’t ever let negativity of people discourage you from your dreams, but at the same time remain realistic not everyone can make it and the people that usually make it are the ones that learned the most. Love you all and God Bless.
Black Panther premieres worldwide tomorrow February 16!
Follow Jason on Instagram @ Kasper_desu or simply Jason Elwood Hanna on Facebook!
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