Michael B. Jordan will make his directorial debut with Creed III, a movie that he also happens to be starring in. Jordan certainly isn’t the first actor to direct himself, but most of the others didn’t have to take on the task with a mouthguard in. While the actor admits he had some unique frustrations in his first directorial gig, he also learned a few things from those that did it before him that came in very handy.
Michael B. Jordan says that it was frustrating trying to act and direct at the same time because he was frequently trying to direct while also acting in a boxing sequence. This meant that he had a mouthguard in so nobody could actually understand him. Speaking with CBS This Morning, he admitted he learned a “cheat code” from the likes of Jon Favreau and Bradley Cooper, that helped out. Jordan explained…
I can’t talk. It was frustrating at points but then they started to understand like my voice with the mouthguard in. But then, also, physical direction. You know, one of the cheat codes that I learned from Bradley Cooper and Jon Favreau who have both acted and directed themselves in projects, is the superpower to be able to direct while you act. So, if I wanted you to be able to turn your body to your right, I would just start stepping that way in my performance, and I’ll get the shot I need.
Before a scene starts you can certainly talk to the actors about what it is you want to accomplish in a given shot, but once the camera is rolling, it’s either yell “cut,” or just roll with it as best you can. Jordan has talked about the advice he went looking for from other actors who also took on directing, and it sounds like he got some feedback that was especially useful here.
As the lead actor in the cast of Creed III Michael B. Jordan is almost always the focus of any scene he’s going to be in when it comes to Creed III. As such, anybody else in the scene is going to react to what he does, this gave him the ability to get the other actors to do what he wanted by following his lead. And this was especially useful since even yelling “cut” would have been difficult and time-consuming since he couldn’t really speak. Jordan continued…
Watching while you’re shooting, you’ll find little things you can do to influence the shot without breaking the moment and calling ‘cut’ and going back to your actor and talking to them. You can actually get that from them in the moment.
Fans and critics alike will probably all have their eyes on Creed III. There’s potentially a lot riding on Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut, assuming it’s a part of his career he wants to continue to pursue. We already know Creed IV is on the way. We’ll find out just his freshman effort has gone when Creed III opens on February 27.