Black Panther Composer Scored '4-Hour Director's Cut'

The home video release for Black Panther could potentially contain quite a few deleted scenes, as composer Ludwig Goransson says he scored a 4-hour cut of the film. Black Panther currently has the longest theatrical cut for debut solo movie in the MCU. And considering how much the story tackles - from explaining the mystery of Wakanda to establishing the film's ensemble, to helping craft one of the MCU's best villains - it's clear director Ryan Coogler had a lot to juggle when crafting the film.

Although Black Panther has only just begun its reign at the box office, the studio is already eyeing its eventual home video release. The Black Panther Blu-ray SteelBook art was unveiled earlier this week, teasing what fans can expect when the film hits DVD/Blu-Ray later this year. Like most Marvel films, it's sure to come packed with some deleted scenes (Black Panther producer Nate Moore already revealed one deleted scene), especially considering how much was probably left on the cutting room floor. And the latest news may even tease a massive director's cut.

THR spoke with Black Panther composer Ludwig Goransson about the experience of scoring the film. While the details of how he crafted the soundtrack of the African-set film are certainly intriguing, the most surprising revelation is that he scored enough music for a 4-hour cut of the film.

“I remember the first director’s cut was four hours long, but I already had a lot of material written and recorded. So, I actually scored the four-hour cut of the film. Which is really great.”

It's not a shock that so much footage exists, as Coogler likely shot far more than he was going to use in order to cut things down to the perfect story. What is surprising, however, is that Goransson worked on the 4-hour cut rather than waiting until things were whittled down. It's possible that Coogler wanted the full scope of the film before he and his creative team started editing, as music played an integral role in the film. In fact, Michael B. Jordan even used it to help get into character. Goransson added:

“Having a great relationship with Ryan means I’m able to start on the film’s score very early. I went to West Africa and South Africa before they started shooting, just to do research. When I came up with Killmonger’s theme, I hired a great fula player to record it. I was able to send all those recordings to Michael B., which helped him prepare for the role."

If the individual character themes were used to help actors with the film, then it's not surprising to think that Coogler and the crew wanted the music in place long before they developed the final cut. Luckily, that means there's probably a lot of footage that's fairly complete and could make it onto the home video release. As to whether Coogler would actually consider developing a 4-hour director's cut remains to be seen, though it's not something that's easily done. Still, a longer version of Black Panther would undoubtedly be welcomed by fans.

More: Marvel’s Black Panther: 28 Things You Completely Missed

Source: THR