Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.

You did other TV and film work, but your involvement in “Black Panther” was on such a different level. Did you have any idea that it was going to be this huge?

We didn’t know the magnitude of it when we were filming. We knew that it was going to be special, but I don’t think we knew that it was going to be so crazy.



So, now that you’ve been in the Marvel universe, it’s surprising to see you in unexpected roles like Glover’s “Guava Island.” How did that come about?

He came to the “Black Panther” premiere, just watched the film along with everybody else, and he was like, “I loved what you did, and I’m going to write something for you.” I’m just like, “O.K. I should expect, just because the film is out now, everybody’s going to say they want to work with me.” But I think out of a lot of people, he was the most genuine in saying that “I want to work with you, and I’m going to make it.” A few others have done that, and those things are in development, but his actually came to fruition.

So, after I came back to London, my agent contacted me and said that Donald wants you to read a role in a short film called “Guava Island.” It was basically another Marvel Universe but on an island. We’ve been holding that secret in for quite a while now. I couldn’t even say I went to Cuba because Rihanna said she went to Cuba, and people would put the two together and be like, “Oh this is true.”

And what about Rihanna? Did you know her before? Why didn’t she sing in “Guava Island”?

No, I didn’t know her before. She’s Guyanese and Bajan, and then just meeting her was fun. She’s just a cool girl, and I just had such a love for her, sisterly love. She picked on me a little bit, like a big sister would do to a little sister. I picked on her.

I loved seeing her work hard every day in scenes I had with her. She would be like: “I want to do another take. I didn’t feel that that was truthful.” She really took it very, very seriously and I appreciated her for that.