Marvel will keep filming “Black Panther 2” in Georgia

Los Angeles. Filming for “Black Panther 2” will continue in Georgia despite his team opposing controversial electoral reform passed by Republican lawmakers in the state, his director Ryan Coogler in a statement.

“As an African American I oppose all attempts, explicit or not, to reduce the electorate and access to the vote,” the filmmaker explained in a letter published this Friday by the newspaper Deadline.

However, Coogler added that his film remains in Georgia so as not to punish local employees who depend on the film industry.

“After talking to voting activists, I realized that many of the people involved in my film, including all the local vendors and companies we work with, are the same people who will suffer the worst,” he said. explain.

Thus, the Marvel film repeated the reasoning of Stacey Abrams, the Democratic politician who was instrumental in expanding suffrage in Georgia, and demographic change culminated in the last presidential election with a historic Democratic victory.

However, actor and producer Will Smith will not shoot his next film, “Emancipation,” in the state of Georgia in protest of electoral reform itself.

In recent years, Georgia has earned the nickname “Southern Hollywood of the United States” and the arrival of creative industry professionals is one of the reasons given by experts to explain an ideological turn that Republicans are trying to curb.

The film industry’s rejection of the law adds to the revulsion expressed by big companies like Coca Cola, Apple and Delta, which also operate in the state.

According to his detractors, Republican-approved electoral reform limits the right to vote because adds new requirements in case you want to do it by mail, imposes more requirements when registering and identifying and prohibits actions such as giving food and drink to voters waiting in long lines to deposit their ballot in centers crowded, Among other provisions.

Voting by mail was essential in the last general election because of the pandemic, and was the favorite target of former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), who did not stop criticizing and considering him, without evidence, a source of electoral fraud.

One hundred U.S. business leaders discussed over the weekend their response to the list of electoral reforms being pushed by Republican lawmakers in 47 states.