Michael B. Jordan Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters

Sup GQ, it's Michael B. Jordan, and these are my iconic characters. Well, look at them. They still buying it though. Yeah, they buying twice as much and only getting half as high. Yo, what was that? Hmm? Castle can't move like that. Yo, castle move up and down or sideways like. Nah, we ain't playing that. Man, look at the boy playing checkers. Checkers? Yeah, checkers. Yo, why y'all playing checkers on the chess set? I play Wallace on The Wire. I was maybe 15 at the time, coming off of this movie, Hardball. I had auditioned for Alexa Fogel in New York, and I originally auditioned for Bodhi, and they brought me in for like two or three callbacks. They basically say, oh look, you're too young to play this role, this character, but they brought me back in to play, to audition for Wallace, and I ended up reading for Wallace that day, and I ended up booking the role. So that's how I got cast in The Wire. Cast members were dropping like flies, you know, from week to week. At some point, you just skim through the script just to make sure your name, you know what I'm saying, was still at the end of the script, like you made it through the whole episode. And I remember getting a script, and I was just reading through, and I just saw that he got killed, and oh man, I was devastated, you know what I'm saying? And then you get the infamous knock from David Simon on your trailer door, and he rolled up in there and basically said, we love you, everybody loves you, the audience loves you, which is why we gotta kill you. That's pretty much what he told me. At the time, that was the longest I've ever worked on a show with the same people, so it became a family, you know, the rest of the cast were family and the crew. At 15 years old, you're like, oh man, what do I do now? What's next? And I was really, really sad at that time. I think it was incredible. The Wire opened up so many doors for me. I think at the time when the show was coming on, when it was on air, it wasn't as popular. And every season, I think the first two or three seasons, it was supposed to get canceled. And then finally, I think after season three, they read up for like four and five. And then that show didn't even really get crazy recognition until I was already off the show. But when I would go audition for things, casting directors and executives and producers and things of that nature, that was one of their favorite shows. So it definitely showed me a lot of love in future projects. And yeah, it definitely paved the way for me, big time. I would love to see that just remain, you know, without a reboot, without a recast, any of that stuff. Just leave it where it is. I mean, maybe I'm biased because I'm a part of it, you know what I'm saying? I don't want to see The Wire rebooted at all. Playing Jamal in Hardball, you know, that was my first major movie. I had to travel to, you know, I lived in a different place. I was in Chicago. Brian Robbins was the director of that. And Keanu was awesome. He was a great role model, gave a lot of advice and wisdom. I remember one time he took us all out to dinner and I guess he had just finished shooting The Matrix, but he had brought Lawrence Fishburne with him to dinner, you know, and got a chance for all of us to meet him and ask questions and talk to him, which was extremely generous and thoughtful for Keanu to even like put that together. But I remember that making a big, big impact on me when I was young. I've seen Keanu out, you know, a few times over the years. And every time he sees me, he says, Hey, what's up, Mike? You know, it's always a lot of love. He always tells me that he's proud of me, you know, and proud of the things that I've done, you know, up until this point, and always encouraging me to keep going and do more. So he's one of those special guys that I'm glad I got a chance to know when I was super young. And yeah, that was just the beginning for me. You know, that kind of, that kind of, another one of those projects that kind of kicked me off and put me in the right direction. I mean, that's where I met one of my best friends, Stellan Brim, you know, Stilo. And he was one of the kids on the baseball team, one of the local kids that got casted as the rest of the Cucumbers. And it, you know, started off as a competition, you know what I'm saying? It was like, and we all had afros at the time. He had a crazy fro, you know what I'm saying? It was like, whose hair was longer? Like everything was a competition, you know, who's the better, you know, better hooper, video games, all that stuff. So that was like one of my, you know, earlier, you know, friendships, you know what I'm saying? That kind of lasted a test of time and, you know, we still, you know, best friends to this day. Jumping rope, three rounds on each of the bags. When we get to the heavy bag, just don't keep throwing your hands because you can hurt them. It's also about using your legs, right? And then five rounds of boxing and that's it. Played Donna's Creed and Creed, you know, me and Ryan, we were getting ready to start rehearsals for Fruitvale station. We didn't even shoot a frame yet. And he pitched me the idea for Apollo Creed son, you know, a spinoff. No hesitation. I was like, yeah, cool. Let's do it. Like, let's go. Like it was, it was that simple. I didn't need, I didn't think about it much at all. And I had a great feeling about Coog in general, you know, cause you know, just as this process and when we first met, it was just like, you know, brothers linking up, you know? So it was, it was it felt, it felt right. And, you know, as a director, having somebody for the first time in my career, really like championed me through, you know, that really believed in me and believe what I could do. He was like, all right, cool. We're going to shoot Fruitvale. And then right after that, we're going to shoot Creed. And it was like, all right, let's, let's do it. So I didn't even really think about any of the other, you know, I guess baggage or things that, you know, carry on from previous movies or franchises. I looked at it as an opportunity to kind of start something new and do something different. First one was like an origin story for Adonis, you know, the second one was a continuation of that. You know, he had a lot of, you know, daddy issues, you know what I'm saying? He had a lot, a lot, a lot of issues he was working through trying to figure out, you know, kind of who he was and what that meant in the shadow of his, of his father, Apollo. And as he kind of started to have his own family, I thought it was important, you know, in the third movie and the third installment to like really singularly focus on Adonis and his family, you know, but the franchise stand on, on his two feet, you know, you know, at the time that was probably the closest character that was to myself, whether it be, you know, the, the success, the, the, the, the, all the things that come with success, you know, that childhood trauma that might be lingering, things of that nature, things he needed to work through, needed to talk through, need to face himself. So I felt like I was the only person that could kind of tell that story. Before I did it, I think I was anxious, a little nervous of how it was going to go, you know, like, what was the process? Who's yelling action? Who's yelling cut? I'm in the scene, like little basic, stupid stuff like that. After the first day, it felt very natural, you know, it felt, it felt like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. And it was a lot of fun. Honestly, it was a lot of fun. You know, the fights were something that I kind of been imagining for a long time, you know, so that was the one part of the movie that I wasn't really nervous about. I had a pretty clear vision on what I wanted to do with that and how I wanted to incorporate my love of anime into that. You know, usually in anime, when you got two characters that are like fighting to the death, inside themselves, they're having a very quiet conversation. They're having a very emotional one. And this usually takes place in like a void, you know, it's either all black or all white, or just void of anything where these two characters kind of exist and they can kind of communicate. And the two characters between, you know, Adonis and Damien, they wouldn't be able to talk about their issues as characters. So they had to go to this void in order to kind of like, you know, to figure things out. And it was through, through, you know, through fighting, you know, our movie Cree 3 was a quadrilingual, quadrilingual film is, you know, you had English, Spanish, ASL, and then fighting would be our fourth language, you know, so they, they fought through, they communicated through their fists. And that's why, you know, that's, that's why the anime element kind of came in, into the mix. And the void exists in so many different anime, you know, when people were watching it, I wanted them to associate that to their memories and what their experiences were with the void. You know, it could be Naruto, it could have been Dragon Ball Z, it could be, you know, Jujutsu Kaisen, it could be so many different, it's in the fabric of what anime is. So if you're an anime lover, you would be like, oh, I remember that from X, Y, and Z. Jonathan had like a passion and an energy, like when he walked on set, I think an honesty and realness that was beautiful to watch, man. He understood the dynamic between the two of them. It just commanded respect. And it also created so much tension between, between Adonis and Damien, but there's a vulnerability in there. It's a, it's a, it's a, you know, it was a hurt, it was a softness that he had. You still felt for him. I think the most interesting antagonists are the ones that you empathize with and you kind of understand why they are the way they are, you know, not at first, but, you know, throughout the film, you kind of get a little bit more of why they're doing what they're doing. And I thought, I felt Jonathan played that perfectly. Yeah, the fourth one, eventually, not sure when, but we left that door open to build on that franchise. My thing is like, I don't want to make a movie just to make it, give it a little time to breathe, make people, you know, want it, miss it a little bit. And then when the time is right, I'll drop in and do another one. Black Panther, I play Eric Killmonger in Jadaka. You know, it was me and Coog's third film. Always been a fan of Black Panther in the comic books. I'm a comic book nerd. So, you know, it was, it was one of the few characters that was black, you know, as the Marvel movies were coming up and you're growing up and you're watching them, you know, as an actor, you know, you want to play in that world. You want to be a part of that universe at some point, you know, there's only a couple, a handful of characters that you would, you could imagine yourself actually playing, but they already, they cast Chadwick first and then Coog hit me. And then we talked about Killmonger and it was like, all right, bet, like, let's, let's get after it. At that point, you know, the trust was already established. The relationship just kept getting stronger and stronger from project to project. I knew the conversation that he wanted to have throughout the film, what I thought was an important one, especially between, you know, you know, the black American and the, you know, the African diaspora, you know what I'm saying? And that relationship and that conversation was an important one that needed to have your weapons. Our weapons will not be used to wage war on the world. It is not our way to be judge, jury and executioner for people who are not our own. Not your own. But didn't life start right here on this continent? It opened up so much communication and understanding between the continent and, and, and, and, and here, here in the States, amongst our community and people that I don't know if that, if that movie doesn't get made, I'm not sure if it, if that conversation is happening right now. In recent years, you have the year of the return, you know, in Ghana, you know, you have a, you see a lot of, much more tourism, much more visits and, and, and vacations back to Africa since that movie came out. There's change that can't be quantified, you know, because of that movie, you know? And, and I feel extremely privileged to be a part of it. Coming back to do Panther 2 after, you know, the tragedy of losing Chadwick was, was an extremely tough one. I was in like pre, like pre-production for Creed 3. So I was like, right, getting ready to go direct. At the time I didn't even read the whole script. So I didn't know what the whole movie was about. Coog, yeah, he's the young brother. He didn't even, he didn't even let me read the crazy. Nah, but he kept, he kept, he kept that a pretty, pretty close to the vest for a lot of different reasons. So I was just as excited as everybody else, you know what I'm saying? To watch the movie at the end, to kind of see what he did with the whole thing, to be perfectly honest. But it meant a lot to the cast. You know, I think the short time I was there and obviously, you know, the cast is extremely tight and we all speak, you know, it felt like we were all doing it for Chadwick, you know, we did that movie for him. It's about 2 billion people all over the world. It looks like us, but their lives are a lot harder. Wakanda has the tools to liberate them all. Killmonger represented a side of a conversation. You know, I feel like, you know, Black Panther and Killmonger, you know, love their people and their, their country, like more than anything. You know, they just had two different ways of going, going about getting it done. As a guy who never went to like acting school or, you know, like, you know, never took any real, you know, lessons or, you know, anything like that. My, my approach to acting is always trying to make things feel as real as possible to me. And, you know, a character like, you know, Eric, who didn't really experience a lot of love throughout his life, spent a lot of it alone and always had like a mission that he wanted to kind of accomplish. You know, while I was making that movie, I kind of like, I kind of like played into that a bit, kind of stayed a little bit isolated to myself. Didn't really allow myself to get too emotionally connected to much of anything. So coming off that, you know, I didn't have a lot of, you know, there was no, no, no playbook to like, you know, how do you get back to being, you know, more of yourself, you know? So I kind of, you know, went through that process. Therapy helped out a bunch. Being around family, you know, being of service to people that you love and care about, just being present. And that was a big lesson for me to learn at that point during my life and career. So now I know what I need personally to, to, to get out of characters if I have to. Yeah, that was, that was an experience for me for sure. Played freeze tag today. Really? Did you win? They couldn't catch me. Think you fast, huh? Think you faster than daddy? Really? I played Oscar Grant in Fruitvale Station. It was the first time that, you know, I got offered to play a leading role. I was still unsure a little bit or figuring out like what kind of like career I was going to have. What type of actor am I going to be? Is it a character actor? Am I only in ensemble movies? Like, but nah, like I want to see if I can actually carry a film. So that was the first one. It also opened up a lot of doors, a lot of doors for me. You know, that movie meant so much to so many people, you know, around the world, but specifically to the community of Oakland and his family, you know, and his friends who lost Oscar. You know, that's how I got to know Oscar was through the people that knew him the best. That was a transformative experience as well. You know, as a, as a, on a human level, you know, young black man at the time, you know, I think Trayvon Martin had just got killed right before I got casted in that. And I was, I remember feeling extremely frustrated and not really knowing how to express myself in a way that I felt was productive. I prayed and, you know, and wished that I could do it through my work and through and through and through and through my, my craft. And I was just coming off of Chronicle at the time and then Cool reached out, got the script to me. And I just knew that it was kind of meant to be because I was just the way I was feeling as a, as a, as a person, you know, that was, that was like my way to, to, to, to, you know, say what I had to say. I play Steve Montgomery in Chronicle, you know, Josh Trank wrote and directed that. And it was, it was an amazing experience. We shot that in South Africa. It was in Cape Town, which was my first time going to Africa, which was really cool. You know, it was, it was a, kind of a origin superhero film, but grounded, you know, in a, in a, in a weird way, a lot of Akira, you know what I'm saying? A lot of Akira inspiration for that movie, found footage type vibe. It was dope, man. It was super creative, you know, and I, and I felt like that was one of the looks and feels to the movie that made it so unique and made it stand out a bit. It was because we took that approach, you know, the risks that Josh took cinematography wise, just how he photographed it and the camera moves that he chose to make. That was like my real first interaction with visual effects and special effects and under really understanding what green screen is and how do you paint things out and how do you, you know, how are we flying and all that? So that was my real, real education for me. It kind of started the curiosity of like, oh, that's how it's done. I'm the type of person, I see it, see something done, you know, once or twice, you know, I can kind of, I can get a grasp of it. You know what I'm saying? That for me really showed me like, you know, the world of visual effects and things that can be done. And it just kind of opened up my, my imagination of what's possible, what I could do. And I, I'm pretty sure when I look at things now, or, you know, I, I, it's because of that, that beginning phase of understanding. You're a Harvard lawyer has moved to Alabama. You know, you start taking on all these capital cases and people just want to know what your intentions are, I guess. We're just trying to give legal assistance to people who can't afford it. Well, legal assistance is one thing, but trying to put convicted murderers back on the street is something else entirely. Play Brian Stevenson, you know, the honorable legend doing God's work. Brian Stevenson's incredible person. I feel like it was a story needed to be told. You know, I try to choose projects, you know, a balance of things. I always wanted to make sure I'm doing something to push the culture, you know, being disruptive in my own way, trying to get people to think differently and to empathize with people, you know, working with Jamie was incredible. You know, Brie Larson, she was great. Destin was a phenomenal director. We had a great crew and cast and just the whole family, that whole team to make it, that movie was, was, was really, really, truly special. So that one, that one is close to my heart also. I've been all over this world. I seen men die in ways I ain't even know was possible. I love you, brother. I play Smoke. Be careful. And I also play Stack. I will. Twin brothers. As a whole, you know, I work more than Coog in the sense of just like, you know, throughout the year, I can do two movies, three movies a year. Coog does one movie every two years. When he calls you and picks up the phone, you like, Hey, you got something for you? You just like, let's go. This is what we're doing. Pitched a project to me. It didn't take much convincing. He told me about the elements that he wanted to incorporate, you know, you know, why story, you know, meant, meant, meant, meant something to him and what he, what he saw for me, what he saw for, you know, what kind of impact it would have on my career, my career, you know, and, and, and, and where I was in my career at the moment. You know, it was a challenge, you know, it was nothing easy about making that movie. I'm all about challenges and seeing what my limits is at and like, you know, pushing the boundaries. So it was a win-win across the board. And whenever we get a chance to go link up again, you know, it's just a good time. So I wanted to, I want to be a part of it. I love Miles. Miles is a phenomenal human. Love that dude. He grew every day, you know, every scene, every opportunity, you know, he, he just got better and better as the movie went on. He has an incredible voice, you know, his talking voice is like, you know, it's dope, but when he sings, it's like something else, you know, and, and, you know, comes from a great family. His parents did an amazing job. You know, he's, he's a, he's eager to learn. You know, asked a bunch of questions. The future is really, really bright for him. And I saw the film, what he did, his performance was, was amazing. Felt really lucky to be a part of his journey. So, you know, in the beginning and however I can help, you know, he knows, you know what I'm saying? You know, I'm, I'm, you know, I'm a resource, resource for him. He can do whatever he wants to do. You know, he's already been, you know, on tour, you know, you know, played in front of sold out, you know, arenas before and all that good stuff, but the kid's dedication to want to be great and want to be, you know, great at whatever he puts his mind to is something that, that is, is really, you know, it's really nice to see. I feel good with him. He going to be straight. Dope is strength. Purposes only. Okay. Now, have any of you guys ever seen one of these bad things for real? Almost every physical book in the country. So by the time you guys grow up, there won't be one book left. If you're familiar with the novel and the book, so crazy how life imitates art, art imitates life. You know, the cycle that rings that movie is so telling to the times that we live in today and the things that are, you know, that are, you know, trying to be put in place, but the freedom of education and knowledge and free thought, you know, was, it was a big theme of that movie. And I kind of felt that, that movie and that character would resonate with people. I felt like us as a society, as people, we were headed in that direction, you know, almost like a cautionary tale, you know what I mean? To, to, to a few things. Can I do this? Can you do what? I know how bad you want this. I can feel it. How bad you want to beat Dylan. I don't think I'm the guy that can give it to you. Tower, baby. QB1, you know, that cast was incredible. That city of Austin, Texas was, was great. I love, I love being there. And another one of those shows that I was on that opened up so many doors because all the right people love that show. Fans to producers, to casting directors, to, you know, it's usually like the executives and the producers, like wives, you know, love that show. So they're, Oh, my wife loves you. It's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Reeves audition. Great. I got it. Awesome. No, no, but it, it definitely, it definitely helped out and created warm environments for me to walk in and, and, and leave a good impression. We've been working hard fellas. What are we? That show really taught me the fluidity of improv, guerrilla shooting. It felt like making an indie, you know what I mean? Cameras would be moving all the time. You know, Pete Berg would be yelling in the back while we're in the middle of the scenes, not yelling cut. It took away the preciousness of filmmaking. I had this relationship with, with production in a way that felt very professional and strict and, you know, rule and this and that and everything had a place. And I went down Texas and we threw all that ---- out the window and it was like, I improv, all right, throw a camera up here, throw a light up here. We shoot and let's do it. We're all saying, all right, we'll get that later. It was really just taught me of like, you know, by any means necessary, get the shot, you know, and get what you need to get. That had kind of appealed to me. Cause you know, it's kind of like how I am as a person is just, is very whatever it takes. Like it was like ego-less filmmaking in a way. It was, it was, it was dope. Would you have ever decided to pick up the series and bring it back and pick up where you got it from? Where we left off? That's tough. Like if it was a show that was going, it was doing Friday Night Lights over like the show, I would pop in for an episode. So I would, yeah, I would, I would. I think I feel that way more than I do The Wire because I think cause I was a part of the original cast. I think the fact that I came in season four at FNL, I feel like they did a reboot. I was like, all right, I can come get in this world. I'm cool with that. Yeah, it was, it was dope. I mean, I'm being a fan of, you know, the NBA playing NBA 2K, the mob player and everything. The fact that I was in the game, that was like, that was, that was, that was, that was a moment for me for sure. I got a chance to help curate the soundtrack and everything. So that, that, that, that, that was, that was tough for me. And then, you know, the dynamic between like Justice and Prez was, you know, I wanted everybody to feel like that was you and your best friend. That was you and your wingman, you know, trying to take on the world, trying to, you know, get to the league and get that, get that big contract, get those endorsement deals, you know, all the, all of that. And obviously depending on your mob player and depending on your style of play and what you chose, you know, Kobe Bryant did the intro, intro to that one, which was like really special to me. Cause I got a chance to really like, you know, spend a lot of time with him and that's where we kind of forged our, our relationship and friendship, rest in peace, Kobe, you know, so that was a big, that was a big one for me for sure. So I was like, where do you go from here? From that, you know, Sinners, you know, that's, that's the next one. But as far as directing goes, you know, this is project Thomas Crown Affair that I've been obsessed with since I was a kid, slowly been developing it, like kind of after Creed 1, you know, I've kind of, I kind of discovered the property, it was over at MGM and slowly, slowly developing it over, over the past, you know, decade or so. If everything would have happened for me to make that movie 10 years ago, I, it still wouldn't have been right. I don't think, cause I don't think I would have been old enough or lived enough to kind of like, you know, bring to it the way I want to, you know, now at 37, I feel like it's the perfect time to step behind the camera, you know, and in front of the camera and tell that story. So that'll probably be my next one.