Namor Actor Tenoch Huerta Mejía Held His Breath up to 5 Minutes in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduced a new Marvel nemesis. Tenoch Huerta Mejía played Namor, the king of The Lost Tribe. The Lost Tribe lives underwater and some of the film was filmed underwater. Huerta Mejía said he learned to hold his breath and his record was five minutes.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD, Disney+ and digital VOD. In the bonus features, the cast and crew discuss their underwater training for the Lost Tribe scenes.
The cast of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ had to learn to dive
Some of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s fantastic visuals could only be accomplished with visual effects. However, for simpler scenes underwater, director Ryan Coogler wanted his actors to really be submerged.
“The way we did things on the first film is we did as much for real as we could,” Coogler said. “In this film, we’re not going to have a ton of time to VFX every water shot so it would be great to try to get in there to shoot that stuff.”
Stunt coordinator Chris Denison discussed training Letita Wright, Danai Gurira and Tenoch Huerta Mejía in diving.
“Initially the expectation is we have to use all stunt doubles,” Denison said. “We’re going no, we can use the cast for this.”
Tenoch Huerta Mejía broke his own record on ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’
The Lost Tribe’s kingdom filmed in water tanks. Huerta Mejía learned to stay submerged for long takes that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever required.
“I never imagined to be here playing this character,” Huerta Mejía said. “It’s a dream. The thing that I love the most is the free diving. When you’re down in the tank, everything is silent. It’s like active meditation. And I can hold my breath for five minutes. That’s my record.”
Now, try holding your breath for five minutes. Most people won’t make it one whole minute before needing a breath. That’s a superhero for you.
Everything changed underwater
The underwater sets also challenged production designer Hannah Beachler. She didn’t have to hold her breath, but she did have to design sets that could withstand the depths.
“Pretty much everything that went in the water had to get tested,” Beachler said. “We did a lot of practical research with the water to see what it was going to do and what materials we would have to build with and what colors we would use. From using very fluorescent colors, what happened when they darkened down, what are they at the surface, what are they 20 feet down.”
