Interview

A Chat With The Creed III Cast As They Speak On Michael B. Jordan In The Directors Chair, & Jonathan Majors Speaks On His Character. #Creed3

Michael B. Jordan speaks on his directorial debut with “Creed III”. Tessa Thompson speaks on working with Michael B. Jordan as director, and Jonathan Majors speaks on his character. “Creed III” – Now Playing in Theaters Everywhere.

After dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) has been thriving in both his career and family life. When a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, Damian (Jonathan Majors), resurfaces after serving a long sentence in prison, he is eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian – a fighter who has nothing to lose.


Michael before all of this happened, there had to be a moment where producer, friend Ryan Coogler turned to you and said, “Hey, do you want to direct this?”  And I just want to know, after that, what were the conversations you had with him or any of the other great directors that you worked with that helped you sorta get ready for this moment?

Michael B. Jordan:

To be clear, it was never a moment like that. But he definitely had a lot to do with it.  You know, I think he told me that I could direct.  You know, I think there was a moment where, you know, I was in awe of what he was doing.  You know, seeing a, you know, Black man my age, somebody I knew well, or getting to know at that time, command a set.  You know, in Fruitvale Station.  You know, and what was possible.  

You know, I think for me, him telling me, like, “Mike, you can do this too,” you know, was kinda when that first kinda seed got planted in my head of, like, okay, maybe I could direct one day.  I didn’t know what it was gonna be.  I didn’t know what movie I was gonna step behind the camera on.  But as, you know, we did Creed, and, you know, Creed II came along.  Steven, you know, jumped into, you know, the director’s chair and had that experience.  And as we kinda grew, the third one just seemed like it was the perfect time for me to step behind the camera and from, you know, internally with myself or Winkler being, you know, another one as well.  My manager.  You know, just talked to some people that I really respect opinion.  

And Ryan definitely was one of them.  It was like, all right, cool, this is like the perfect opportunity to step behind the camera.  And I think preparing to shoot this movie, Ryan had a lot of, you know, a lot of thoughts.  You know, he was a great sounding board for me.  So was Jon Favreau and Bradley Cooper and Denzel Washington.  Those are some people that I tapped into to kinda get their opinions.

C3_27868_R Tessa Thompson stars as Bianca and Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed in CREED III A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film Photo credit: Eli Ade © 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved CREED is a trademark of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Tessa, you’re in a unique position where you’ve now been directed by each of these different directors with Bianca.  But with this one, what do you think about the colors that you guys brought to her in this chapter, is a different look from her where she is in her career, their relationship.  What would you say, Michael’s direction, how did you guys approach it differently than even what you did with Steven or Ryan?

Tessa Thompson:

I think something I’ve always really enjoyed about making these films, and that began with Ryan and our work together, is I feel like I’ve always been invited to really be a co-author. And to be so a part of the collaborative process of building Bianca together with them.  And so it feels like I’ve gotten to continue to do that.  I think the interesting thing over making these films over the course, I’ve been saying eight years.I think the thing that I am finding so fascinating is the ways in which our growth, our personal growth as people gets to be communicated inside of the characters in a way.  

And that is a very unique thing.  I mean, we’re separate in a way, but I think some of the things that our characters are contending with, and some of the things that Mike and I are contending with personally, we get to explore in the context of these films.  And I think that’s something that is really a gift.  I think you’re always hoping to get to make films, and to be working on something that is also tasking you to ask questions of yourself.  And I think in terms of some of the things that we’re unpacking in this, which has to do with, like, what does it look like to have successful partnership inside of your dreams?

That’s definitely a question we ask ourselves.  [laugh] The two of us.  We get to ask inside of the context of making these films.  Like, what does your personhood look like when it’s not entirely tethered to what you do in the world or what you make, or your success.  What is success like those really central human questions that I think we’re in a point in our lives where we’re really asking, we get to also put inside of this script.  Or, what does it look like to unpack masculinity?  What does friendship look like?  What does Black brotherhood look like inside of spaces that typically are competitive? I think all of those themes are really things that we get to tease out in developing these films.  And I feel very lucky they get to work on something where there’s an opportunity to do that.

C3_10891_R Jonathan Majors stars as Damian Anderson in director Michael B. Jordan’s CREED III A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film Photo credit: Eli Ade © 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved CREED is a trademark of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Jonathan, so much of the character changed.  What was one of the things that were very central to the character, though, that you wanted to make sure stayed in all of these different iterations as you guys shaped it?  What was part of that initial part of the script that you really sort of found him in that you wanted to make sure, as y’all shaped it, stayed there?  

Jonathan Majors:

Wicked.  Yeah, I think the most ancient quality that was, you know, put in, you know, by the homies was this aspiration for freedom.  And not just physical freedom, but mental freedom.  And that never changed.  That never shifted.  That was the thing that I went, “Okay, that makes sense to me.”  They baked it in.  Mike saw it.  We went after it.  You know.  It’s the most universal quality in the piece.  Second to that was brotherhood, I think. 

And that brotherhood became paramount.  Becomes paramount.  Because that’s connected between our hero and me.  So those two elements.  And the changing of the name is all about implication.  The idea that, for those of you who don’t know, let’s ask, what was Brandon’s last name at first?

And then whatever that generic last name was, it was up in the air to be changed, potentially.  And I said, “Well, how about Anderson?”  And Anderson is my maternal last name.  It’s my mother’s last name.  And that had to do with implications.  You know.  I can’t tell you, one of the highlights of the experience was when Mike said yes to that.  And then when I walked in, you know, the day of fighting, and, yeah, we’ve done all our prep, and I’m the steel.  You know, I’m in a Rocky movie.  I’m in a Creed movie.  I’m about to fight Michael B. Jordan.  It’s on.  You know what I mean? 

You’re a little nervous.  There’s a little something going on, but you look out there and you see, you know, Adonis.  And you see Anderson.  And that type of implication.  That type of, like, oh, we’re here now.  This is me.  This is us.  You know, that was a huge gift from my director.  And just kept the process more emboldened, you know.

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