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TRANSCRIPT
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: [holding a black panther toy] Yeah, as soon as I see this I think of my, my friend Chadwick Boseman.
You know, whenever, whenever I see this, it’ll forever remind me of him. And, you know, the time we had a chance to, you know, finally, finally work together.
[OPENING TITLE]
Hi, my name is Michael B. Jordan. And we’re going to be playing back some clips that actually mean something to me.
First, we have most recent movie, Sinners.
There you go. Boom.
[TITLE: SINNERS]
[CLIP STARTS]
[Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) sits cradling a baby as Smoke (Michael B. Jordan) sits between life and death]
JORDAN: Oh man, this was a day.
Yeah, Wunmi was incredible.
SMOKE (JORDAN): Papa’s here.
[CLIP ENDS]
JORDAN: Yeah, that I was…a pretty, a pretty emotional day.
[laughing]
Just everything that Smoke had went through, throughout the movie. First time he smiled, you know, throughout, throughout the film and you kind of understood Smoke a little bit better in that moment. And, why he was, I guess, fighting so hard to get– to make sure people got home, you know, and made it back and, yeah, that day was a particularly hot day.
You know, Ryan incorporated these pussy willows. Those, those little, those white, little seeds of this, this flower that, that, that we introduced at, at Annie’s shop when, when, Smoke and Annie first got reconnected and they brought it back in this, when they reconnected again, you know, as Smoke was going towards, you know, losing, losing his life a bit.
And was wondering why it meant so much to him, so he can get back and actually, you know, be with his family again. And Smoke wasn’t a spiritual person at all. He didn’t really believe in all that stuff, but Annie did so, so he believed it.
He believed in her.
You know, these were characters that built, you know, on the page, by Ryan Coogler. And I honestly wanted to just build them from the ground up like you said, their pain, their trauma. You know, our childhood trauma shapes us to who we are today. And they had a lot of it, you know, a shared one. And it was interesting to have two different perspectives of the same moment.
They tell two different versions of, of what happened, you know, like, you know, most humans would do. You know, I wore bigger shoes, for Smoke, because he didn’t really move around too much. He was- you know, I had him be grounded. I had smaller shoes for Stack, because he was never sitting in one place.
So, he always felt like he had to move and, and, kind of be, you know, lighter on his feet. So, just little things like that added to, you know, how they held their body when they rest, their face, the cadence in their speech.
Honestly, no real inspirations when it came to, you know, what kind of vampire I was going to be. You know, really wanted to be very specific to the world, you know, we were creating down there and tried really hard not to watch too many other things to influence what, what we were trying to make.
You know, this is a career defining film for me. It really, I think, shaped, you know, my trajectory as, you know, a quote unquote leading man. Because up until that point, I had a lot of questions within myself as an actor, of whether or not I could lead a film.
This was my first opportunity at that.
…
[TITLE: FRUITVALE STATION]
[CLIP STARTS]
JORDAN: Bart Station in Fruitvale. Yeah.
Melonie Diaz, she was phenomenal.
OFFICER CARUSO (KEVIN DURAND): You three, to the wall! Get your hands out of your pockets.
SECOND OFFICER: You too. Let’s go.
OFFICER CARUSO: Get your hands out of your pockets.
SECOND OFFICER: You too.
OFFICER CARUSO: Against the wall. Get over there. Get over there. To the wall.
MAN: What you talking about? Hey, sexy. Tell this group to calm the fuck down [shoved to the wall] – Oh, why? Come on, man. You guys ain’t even real police. If you ain’t have that motherfucking badge, bruv. You know, straight up.
OFFICE CARUSO: – If you were involved in the fight, get off the fucking train now. Don’t make me come in there and pull you off.
[CLIP ENDS]
JORDAN: Man, yeah, that takes me back.
[laughing]
Very, very special, you know, movie. You know, first film that I got an opportunity to be the lead of. You know, playing a– a real, real person, you know, that tragically lost his life and the guy’s life is taken from him and, you know, shooting in Ryan’s hometown and, meeting Oscar Grant’s, you know, family, learning about Oscar through his family and his, and his loved ones was very emotional and very, you know, very, very, intense in the best way, you know, process for me.
And that particular clip, you know, was New Year’s Eve and, and we shot at the, the exact station platform that, that Oscar was killed at down to the, to the cement block where, where he actually lost his life, you know, which was, very heavy.
But, yeah, you know, this project, you know, for me, really launched, you know, me and Ryan’s relationship, you know, and, and… Yeah. Yeah. For real, for real. Just, just- yeah, it shined a light on, on a subject that, you know, at a time where there was so much police brutality and violence and murders that were going on. And it’s always been going on.
But, you know, getting into this, you know, this digital era where people have phones, you know, that can record in real time and, and be able to put those out into the, to the, to the masses. You know, one of those more viral moments that got caught on film that really, you know, shifted, and started a conversation, you know, even more, you know, across the world even.
This is a story from Oakland. You know what I’m saying? That, that travelled around the world and made it and, and pushed, you know, for change. its part in adding to the momentum of change, you know, for change. You know, it did its part in adding to the momentum of change, when it comes to those things and we still got a long way to go, but that was a, a pretty big starting point for him.
…
JORDAN: Up next, Phantom Thread.
[TITLE: PHANTOM THREAD]
[CLIP STARTS]
REYNOLDS WOODCOCK (DANIEL DAY-LEWIS): Go and take the dress off her and bring it to me right away.
BARBARA’S STAFF: I don’t think so.
REYNOLDS WOODCOCK: Take the fucking dress off Barbara, and bring it to me or I’ll do it myself.
BARBARA’S STAFF: I beg your pardon.
REYNOLDS WOODCOCK: Alma.
JORDAN: This is crazy.
Yeah, this scene was great.
[CLIP ENDS]
Oh man, nah I love this movie.
Daniel Day-Lewis is incredible and the cinematography was just– and the storytelling. He’s this character who is obsessed with what he did to a T and you know, loved, loved his craft and his routine and allowed you know, someone to come in to that process and how that influenced his creativity and in certain ways and him as a person, just the attention to detail throughout this movie, I thought was incredible.
And that particular scene. You know, he was so prideful in his work and who wore his clothes and why he made, you know, the garments and dresses that he did and you’ve never seen that character become so, rebellious, I guess. Or kind of like, you know, go outside the box and be a little bit extreme in a way. It read beautifully in this.
The movie has so many, you know, funny moments that maybe aren’t supposed to be funny, but they’re, they’re human and they’re pretty, pretty funny.
There’s just a confidence in speech and beyond his eyes that, you know, you just can’t help but watch. And I can tell Daniel is a very technical actor. Knowing where the camera is. I’m sure he knows what lenses they’re shooting on, you know, size of the lenses that that can inform, you know, his blocking, his movement in some ways.
Right now, I’m filming a heist movie, so the details and the inserts and what you tell the audience to pay attention to is so crucially important in those genres and in this movie, you know, like making a dress and sewing and, and very meticulous with, with all the details, even down to the cooking and the, you know, the foraging and phantom thread of the, the mushrooms and of the other ingredients. It felt very– it was just, everything was beautiful.
…
This is a movie that I feel like is a visual masterpiece, and it’s one of my favourite movies of all time, and it’s Princess Mononoke.
[TITLE: PRINCESS MONONOKE]
[CLIP STARTS]
SAN (ENGLISH DUB – CLAIRE DANES): He’s dying.
JORDAN: – English! English dub! No!
I’m just joking.
[laughing]
ASHITAKA (ENGLISH DUB – BILLY CRUDUP): – I didn’t want them to kill you. That’s why.
SAN: I’m not afraid to die. I’d do anything to get you humans out of my forest.
ASHITAKA: I knew that from the first moment I saw you.
SAN: And I’m not afraid of you! I should kill you for saving her! Ah!
JORDAN: – Got that poster.
SAN: – That woman is evil and there’s no one who can stop me from killing her.
ASHITAKA: No. Live.
SAN: That’s enough. I’m not listening to you anymore!
JORDAN: [Interjecting] – But you won’t kill him.
ASHITAKA: – You’re beautiful.
SAN: Ah!
SAN’S WOLF BROTHER: What is it, San? Want me to crunch his face off?
[CLIP ENDS]
JORDAN: Ahh that movie’s great. Who do I start?
You know, visually, the colours, you know, throughout this movie is incredible. The way they capture water and light, you know, the, the sun, you know, tattered through the leaves of the canopy of the jungle. And the forest is truly special.
Every time I watch it, I wish, I like I have to experience a place like this.
Down to the movement of the smoke and the flames, in this movie, is beautiful.
Yeah, the character design is great.
You know, every time it’s on, I watch it. I recently saw it in IMAX out here, you know, in London. And it was incredible. It was like you know, you know, you’re sitting there watching this, trying to watch whole, you know, try to capture everything and up on screen.
With all the, the, you know, global warming and, you know, and how we, you know, we treat the earth and the environment and Mother Nature and, us as humans and trying to take care of the planet. And so it kind of hits on a lot, a lot of themes that I always find important.
There’s not always an English translation for, for Japanese, vocabulary. So, you’re never going to quite get an English translation that feels the same. It’s almost like I’d much rather hear the Japanese emotion from the voice acting and read English subtitles that you can put that same audible emotion over, I think bridges the gap a bit more, and I’m not sure, that all productions take that, take that consideration, you know. So for me, I’d personally just rather read the subtitles and listen.
The first time I saw Princess Mononoke, I was probably maybe 12, 13, maybe 12, 13, something like that. I just got into anime around that time because my best friend at the time, his older brother and his friends, had access to all the you know, kung fu movies and the bootleg DVDs that we would get at the mall in Jersey.
And we had to go find, you know, these, these foreign films and anime and then, you know, like Dragon Ball and things like that, and Akira and all these, you know, hidden films and stuff. You’re like, “Oh, wow.” And then and so that kind of got me turned on to anime and, and this was, this was one of those movies that were kind of swiped from, his, his house growing up and just been in love with those films and, you know, Studio Ghibli movies and all that good stuff.
…
JORDAN: [holding a blank panther toy] I see my guy, you know what I’m saying?
I see, I see my guy right here, man.
Yeah, as soon as I see this I think of my, my friend Chadwick Boseman.
Forever remind me of him. And, you know, the time we had a chance to, you know, finally, finally work together.
See the Creed gloves in the back. Those are– at first glance, they remind me of probably Creed’s first fight against Sporino, Sporino’s gym. He had the black and white trunks, and he was still going by Johnson.
…
I see the coffins, and the vampire, you know what I’m saying, in the back. My most challenging role, you know, by far, to date, Smoke and Stack.
Yeah, that was our first time on a press tour, I guess, but, premiering Fruitvale and all the craziness, at Park City, that we were going through, and– Man, we were kids. We were kids, man.
Yeah, feels like yesterday, you know? Feels like yesterday.
…
PRODUCER: [off camera] What is the one film, TV show or video game that you’d recommend everyone should watch or play at least once in their lifetime?
JORDAN: It’s got to be NBA 2K. You got to play it at least once. The MyCAREER, MyPLAYER mode is incredible.
As an athlete, you know, somebody who’s, you know, a kid at one point in your life, you know, had aspirations to try to go be a pro athlete, whether that, you know, fell short tremendously.
[laughing]
But you know, you get a chance to, you know, live out your dreams for a little bit. And, you know, you’re competitive, you know, you get a chance to play with, you know, your friends and stuff like that. So yeah, I’d say NBA 2K, I’m a go.
PRODUCER: [off camera] Thank you so much.
JORDAN: Appreciate it, bro. Thank you, guys.
<ENDS>
