Jonathan Majors talks CREED III, Kang, & Heath Ledger: Happy Sad Confused

hey guys thanks as always for tuning in to another episode of happy sad confused Creed 3 the mcu's big bad or most exciting actor of the moment call Jonathan Majors whatever you guys want the most important thing to call him right now he's a guest on the podcast at long last welcome buddy it's good to see you oh man so good to do this I'm so happy to be here here in The Ether uh guys make make sure to hit the like subscribe so you don't miss our conversation and all the Chats on this channel um Jonathan this has been a bit of a long time coming we've had a bunch of chats in the last year um but I've been I've been waiting for this a little bit of a deep dive the first of many I'm sure um congratulations man on on what has been a really exciting uh run so far how you doing how you holding up I've got your Vanity Fair cover here I can't get away from you you're just everywhere man you know I do wonder I do wonder if it's too much you know I do wonder if it's overwhelming you know uh something I've never thought of in my life you know uh probably from always coming from such a deficit you know what I mean um but uh no everything's good you know it's uh to be honest there's a sense of um real sobriety you know I mean as very sobering the whole thing where you just feel uh it just got floating grounded you know present um but uh maybe so present it's it's so present you know well that that that's look I mean you are a guy that this in a way part of this at least this isn't the goal but this is a part of what's been the goal right to get the opportunity to show off different facets of yourself yes and you're you are kind of in the eye of that storm right now like I've talked to actors in every phase of their career and it's it's really exciting to talk to you right now because you you literally are in the middle of it and I you have the self-awareness to know that and and and and presence I think is a very important word to like to be aware of it and to feel it and to let it uh absorb it because um this is a special time this doesn't happen this doesn't happen often you may have cracked it man you know um if one is in the eye of the storm it's quite peaceful yeah well I think that's what I'm feeling I've I kind of I'm kind of walking around with that that piece you know I see everything going on around me you know I have no where with all to know that that's not me you know the guy you see on the poster is a deep personal concentrated version of me but it's not me right and concentrate if that makes sense uh and so it's it's uh it's really cool I guess it's really cool that way you know and that's an artist you know I think of all the artists that I admired you know uh the writers The Poets the actors the artists the dancers this moment is something that we've all uh you hear you hear people write about these moments you know yeah so to be in the moment is uh it's never what you expect is it and also I would imagine look you are an artist first and foremost You're Gonna Act your way through this this story you know what you're you're gonna you're gonna enjoy this and go to the parties and do the things and do the magazine covers and then you're gonna do what you do yes yes yes so there's a countdown yeah so let's let's start by getting you on the couch here uh Jonathan if you weren't an actor what do you think you'd be today I think I just realized I'd be an English teacher yeah I think maybe it's the cardigan I'm wearing you know you got the Wardrobe yeah yeah I think I'd be an English teacher as of now as of today I think yeah yeah it's interesting because look we're gonna talk about a bunch of things I mean since we last spoke I've seen Creed 3 which is fantastic I mean Michael B just kills it as a director and you're obviously amazing in this uh the character really made an indelible Mark for me Damien um as an as a character that you know is um is relatable I think for a lot of us in like they're it's all about choices and circumstances right yes yes and I would imagine this is something that you can relate to like being in a fraught circumstance making a choice and not and and someone like Damien not having you know being given a second chance not being not being given the wherewithal to like make uh to to make a mistake and then say you know it's okay the system absolves you of that and lets you move on is that something that you that you kind of like apply to your own life you think back to your upbringing and the times you went left instead of right do you relate that at all to to Damien yet Damien is a there's a very particular time in my life that I know I was closest to Damien you know uh I was in and out of different schools um I was wearing big clothes I was you know I said at the end of the uh lunchroom table I have a very clear image of that or my backpack very low we know this guy I was this guy you know um that that that snapshot in my in my head is is Dame that's the guy that goes into Damian you know uh the I mean Damian has an incredible amount of um uh heartbreak and an incredible amount of ambition you know and it's going up against the system you know like like that was I mean that was literally my life you know growing up you know um it's no no spoiler alert you know grew up very um I mean a part of the proletariat Blue Collar you know single mother I mean we've all heard the story before you know um but the intensity of it you know for me felt greater and they were a great little times when I call them quote went left yeah I mean um did it feel like the system was stacked up against you when you were a kid did you feel like you were like well I got news for you the system's still stacked up against me yeah if you take the posters down you know um yeah you're just going to a store going to a gas station the system's not not room for you yeah it's not probe it's not no it's that got my back at all you know yeah uh but there's something and that and that and that's why one reason I want to play the role because there is also something in those individuals in those quiet the kind of heartbroken angry individuals if they have all of that right because I know for me you know all that was in me and yet there was also all of this other stuff that was countering it that the joy the hope the dreamer um the Explorer you know to get out of the place I was in one of the reasons I was so truant everyone I skipped school so it's you know um and that's what I also wanted to show and and then and that's what was calling me you know that balance yeah do you remember growing up when you first articulated wanting to be an artist to your mom to family to friends and was that did that feel like a bold thing to say out loud to actually like own it because it wasn't wasn't something from your circumstances that necessarily was thought to be one of the paths I would think right um that's interesting because my mom would tell the story of me saying I was gonna be a pastor yeah and I was like the funny thing is I never I don't remember that at all but like I don't know like I don't remember that yeah well that was her world too right that was like what she did so she thought that was the Apparently I said that you know but maybe um uh the idea was up for me the performance element of it you know I mean like like I watch that a lot I watch people in the Pulpit a lot do that thing you know tell stories and incite catharsis and people in the congregation and I sure know that was something that as a boy I was deeply deeply connected to you know like the rhythm of the sermon I was going to rock my body you know and like Bob my head to the rhythm of the pastor's Cadence you know I I felt that you know rhythm in speech is something that I'm really interested in and always have been and so if I did or if I didn't say that to my mom I think that's what I meant you know I want to be up and and do that thing um I had a bit of I had to leg up because I wasn't um I was one Late Bloomer I was too um yeah I was a late bloomer so I didn't have the pressures of trying to be cool you know when I was when I was growing up and my family we were such a family unit that we I mean we were just a bunch of you know Rebels you know in my family like we we did what we had to do to stay safe but we essentially were like as long as we survive you know it's fine you know it's fine and so when this acting thing really came in uh for me my mom just I mean she isn't bad not you know it was never it was never an issue you know it only became a thing when uh I got older you know and I began to look like an athlete you know and I began to you know the system began to sort me out and say you're this now you know that's when the conflict came in um and it came in strong um meaning what meaning are you talking about typecasting based on your looks your appearance your build like that kind of a thing you call it typecasting I call it profiling you're right of course yeah profiled you know as a young black man in Texas you know um that that that that that that had power you know had emotional power had intellectual power you know um all these things a lot I began to get pushed in certain places you know and the first thing the first place I was redlined was uh academics yeah I mean uh they I wasn't allowed in the gifted and talented courses uh I got around that there's some Damien I forged my mom's signature and then put me in that fortunate again two years later put me into AP courses right yeah so like you know this this is this is this isn't for you this you you know this is it you know exactly and then uh even actually funny thing is like it was all going great you know with the acting thing and then I got to a certain place um because the acting I was I was pushed I got into acting my family never said no right but it was the culture of you know what was being actor in my town that was in that I was in which actually had a very strong and popular um ecosystem for the Arts you know where I was at um but I didn't come from I didn't have the financial background that a lot of the kids did and whereas like there was a place called young active studio um and I couldn't afford to go and everybody in my group you know um in my troop they were all doing that on the weekends and I couldn't afford that and and you know I was in playing the different roles and all of this and they were seen to be in the you know that's where the that's where the that's where the pushback came you know and that and that's what I fought against for a very long time so much the fact that my mom saying this to me uh when my sister my sister's three years older than me and she got her acceptance letter in the college and that night after the celebration my mom looked at me you know next in line my younger brother below me and said baby you've got to get good at something because mama can't afford you know college my sister just got a scholarship and so we were all you know very celebratory then she looked at her next you know child and um the soul the the damnation of society that was being placed on me and uh she said that and so I I then took that mentality of like this is what I'm gonna get good at you know the instruments I given up you know academics I still held in there I still did my thing I was I was still participating at that academic level um much to my teacher should Grant um but I was surviving that you know but this acting thing was gonna have to be the way I made my bread and butter um well what's interesting what you said what you say just makes me think of a thousand different directions to go but like I mean you know you talk about you talked earlier about like look outside of acting or whatever you know in your day-to-day life you're still you know the system is against you let's let's be real like this is acting a respite from that in a way like where like you can be anything you can be king the Conqueror you can be Damien you can be a bodybuilder you can be a romantic lead yeah is acting kind of almost that safe place where it's like there are no limitations there are no expectations or at least there are less of them and I and if I'm good enough at my job and I can break break your expectations of what I can be um meritocracy is not real you see um except for when you get to the gradations of emotion and the impact the emotion has and there you have a problem because if someone can move you right you cannot deny it right um in the Arts there is a meritocracy not of talent right but of capability to shift the other person right to make them feel something to make them experience something yeah that is real yeah that is probably that's probably the most real thing I've ever experienced in my life the most real thing and I've doubled down on that I've made a career on that and no they will tell you no you can't play uh Hamlet right or you can't play Romeo um uh because you look the way you look yeah you get in that room and you say those words and you make them feel Romeo and you make them feel Hamlet and so you then have to so then so then so then I'm in a position that I'm very used to being in where the odds are stacked against me but I've got the tools now yeah I mean now it's just acting thing this is how you do it and this emotional thing this feeling thing this connecting the people thing um is something that for whatever reason I have an appetite for it um that changed the game you you all you mentioned I think in our last conversation having a bit of an athlete's mindset um at times in your in your life as you even approach the Arts and I'm wondering like I was watching the movie and there's a great scene relatively early on I can get a diner between you and Michael B and it has it has shades of less of a sports movie and more of like a scene out of heat uh it's like it's like two guys just sizing each other up yeah and and trying to reconnect and connect and figure out what's what's going on behind the eyes yeah I don't know when you go into a scene like that is there a bit of is it healthy to have a bit of like an athlete's mentality like this sounds counter-intuitive to me but like to win a scene like do you want to win a scene from Michael B no no that uh nipsy hustle says let me just get this right Nipsey says uh um competition is contrary um uh to creativity right yeah yeah okay um uh yeah so there's none of that the the athletes mentality is more like Kobe right the Black Mamba right where he's up at four o'clock in the gym shooting right yeah I mean yeah um uh case in point um and this is this is just these are just facts um uh you work in the off season when you play a sport right that's that's how I grew up I played basketball in off season you make playing on the sport but this preseason you're always working for the season um they give you a finite amount of time in school right North Carolina School of the Yards it's it's uh you do your school year right but then you have the summer during the summer that's off season I would go train someplace else and literally remember going into the going to my Dean's office saying I will not make orientation because the last day of class in New York City is this day and I'm getting on a bus that day and coming back so I will be here for the first day of class yeah I mean and so from North Carolina School of the Arts he has school of drama at Fourth that's seven years of consistent training because every Gap I was I I was doing something right that's that's what I mean by the the mentality you know I mean you can say what you want about Jonathan you're not gonna outwork him you're not going to out hustle him he's going to put in the the hours well that's just the mentality of a kid coming down the hill right if everything's stacked against you right if everything if you feel everything's stacked against you why would you why would you not right because you're not you know hey guys I want to talk to you about one of our sponsors this week on happy sad confused it's ZocDoc and this is an important one because when I feel a health issue coming on and I'm looking up my symptoms online I go down the social media Rabbit Hole I just get more confused than I was at the start there are better ways though guys to get the answers you want and the care you deserve from actual trusted professionals and not just random people on the internet ZocDoc helps you find expert doctors and medical professionals that specialize in the care you need and deliver the type of experience you want sock talk is the only free app that lets you find and book doctors who are patient reviewed take your insurance are available when you need them and treat almost every condition Under the Sun so there's no more Dr roulette scouring the internet for questionable reviews with ZocDoc you have an actual trusted guide to connect you to your favorite doctor you haven't met yet and millions of people are using zocdocs free app right now to find and book a doctor in their neighborhood whose patient reviewed and fits their needs and schedule just right so go to zocdoc.com happy sad and download the ZocDoc app for free then find book a top-rated doctor today many are available within 24 hours at Sock Doc zocdoc.com happy sad zocdoc.com happy sad Damien talks a bit about like feeling like he feels like the clock is ticking on him right he's lost all this time kind of ironic there's a lot of there's a lot of time metaphors we can talk about time when it applies to both of these characters and yeah in these two new films right do you feel like the clock ticking for you right now we started this conversation in terms of like this is the moment this is you're in the storm right now like do you feel that like I got the juice right now I got it like I gotta make the right choices I got to do the right things because no you don't no I mean it's funny it actually um it actually doesn't upset me but it makes me it just makes me uncomfortable a bit right because I go that is literally someone else's pressure right that's literally so that's someone else's narrative if I follow anybody else's narrative ever in my life I'd be dead in jail terrible dad no education you know I mean if I follow anybody else's narrative but my own I would you know so the time crunch the juice and all of that look is there is can can one make Advance a quicker advancement in moments like this yes of course um that's true um but there is there's no finite amount of I I can't wrap my mind around the idea that this is a moment because that's terrifying isn't it sure because time moves on right it's not even control there's always someone you can only control it in front of you yeah and so what I'm focused on is uh the movement that I'm moving my art and my artistic uh uh career from one place to another place that's that's all that's happening right and people are helping me do that participating in me doing that and witnessing me do that you know the Lion's Share people are witnessing it right which is why there's an idea of oh my goodness look what's happening you know um yeah um let's talk uh comic books uh for a little bit because last time I spoke about books right let's let's lighten up talk a little comic books last time you were telling me a little bit about uh your preoccupation as a kid with uh Batman uh yes UTS that uh that there are many photos of you perhaps in Batman Garb growing up yes uh and then I read separately that like like many actors you've talked about Heath Ledger being like that joker performance was a huge one for you watching yeah how do we close the loop on this Jonathan is it by you playing Batman they're looking yet for yet another Batman oh my God nah I don't know man I mean we've got Kang in the mix you know you don't want to betray your MCU friends don't play Your Heroes either way okay no don't betray your heart you can't betray your heart you know what I mean um yes it's a it's such a circus isn't it you know uh but I would say you know if I'm going to be if we're just going to talk about it I do think there is something to uh the legacy of you know the mythology of Batman the mythology of Heath Ledger um his Joker in particular um and what's going on you know the frequency of those performances right the way those guys are felt and understood um I would love that to be in the uh a mixture of what it is I'm doing now you know I love it well elaborate on that for a second for me because like from from my vantage point what I what I get off of from like that kind of convert that performance is like it feels so raw so um you're in the moment with him it feels like it's on it's it he can't be contained um and so authentic in its own way as silly as insane as it may be it has just uh what strikes you what what why do so many actors Revere that performance and why do you well well I can't speak for other actors right because I I think I know the answer and I think I don't think yeah that's not your answer okay but yeah um it's actually to me it's the vulnerability right which is in the um there's a very clear difference between audacity and bravery in one's work right I'm yeah The Bravery of the work is uh slightly unparalleled yeah I mean The Bravery because he knows what he's doing he and he's not it's not in response to anything else right it is what he feels he needs to do it's how he feels he needs to behave and he's doing it freely and he's aware right that's the thing it's actually not the wildness of it it's it's the specificity of it it's the uh focus of the performance right that makes him feel to some wild but I see it the other way I see the um deep focus meditative chaos that he has put himself in on purpose and that's where the bravery lies and I go hmm and what happens from that is that physicality is we know how we know we know the Tom Waits story this is a person who did research who did his work like just the um mythology around Heath Ledger's Joker is I mean it Rivals out of you know Sylvester Stallone's you know story of Rocky you know or or or Madden like I know them Matt Damon Netflix um yeah I mean it's Brave it's Brave it's not it's not audacious it's Brave he knows exactly what he's doing the risk of it and he's leaning into it period period that's why I love it you know um yeah yeah can uh since it's been a minute since Ant-Man came out and I wasn't able to talk to you about this then yeah um one of the post-credits scenes when we get to see you Rama touch immortus I believe the Centurion um what was it like to shoot that and the many different incarnations was that must have been a long day or a few days and but was it also just like Mana from Heaven to like just luxuriate in all the kangs yeah it was great uh it was it was super great I actually had walking pneumonia yeah yeah yeah I didn't know it sounds super great you know like walking pneumonia at the time so there were moments of like real Euphoria because I was like I don't know if you know it was it was crazy um so you when you have the wild eyed like like that's walking pneumonia Jonathan yeah yeah imagine if he was healthy wow yeah yeah it was um man listen I'm as you say that I'm having flashbacks of like you know sitting in drama school at Yale you know and just like two o'clock in the morning just going crazy in there no one's there you're just trying to figure things out and right all that work man all that imaginative rubbish that you put in those rooms and you know everything works everything plays at some point you know some of those characters I was making up in clown class or you know with my daughter or you know as I'm walking the dogs you know like it was it was it was insane you know just doing those things insane you know when you when you saw yourself in full which of those like looks took your breath away when you saw yourself in the full regalia all of them really I mean to be honest all of them I mean you can I mean a mortise is wicked you know Robert tell this wicked you know Centurion is wicked you know um it was really some of the other guys I was having fun with too you know just the pop-up guys that you know came in watching the background a little bit a little Legion those guys you know those guys were really fun too um it's actually very happy to talk about it yeah I mean because it was such a it's also such a private thing it's such a secret thing yeah me and two other people in the world knew what was happening you know and and why are you working on the weekend you know just trust me it's gonna be cool where'd you go to Sunday yeah yeah yeah so do you know okay uh do you know which Kang or kangs you're playing in Kang Dynasty because I guess King the Conqueror is dead we just goodbye it was a nice little run so long I know King Dynasty is happening I don't know I don't know anything other than that yeah yeah yeah yeah is is it a conversation though like can you kind of like weigh in because you've done all the research you're in it you're still in it like are you is it a negotiation like oh I'd love to see this Kang would you guys negotiation I mean it's uh but there there's a great deal of creative respect you know me where I know um well I know very little I know um I've spoken to to Destin you know I know more about the thrust of it I know more about the feeling of it I know right that's the things I know you know as as mature um I mean there will be a time obviously you gotta make the movie wow information that you're asking me and I can't say no I can't tell you you know um but that's a stance it's uh it's still very inspirational you know um yeah how many Avengers have you met so far have you met Downey yet have you met Evans or Amazon yeah so I have not met Robert Downey Jr much to my chagrin I think he's just his story very much like he you know I mean like like that I don't give a [ __ ] you know vibration you know that he's a Mystic yeah I mean you know he underst he understands something yeah he may not say he does but he does and there's also a bit of that that I know you have a fondness for like the the clown knows there's a bit of the clown to him he's just he's not he's uh oh yeah I'll be both both those guys I mean all all the all my all my favorite guys you know and and and gals all my favorite artists all great artists have strong clowns you know they all have really strong clowns you know Meryl Streep's clown is extremely strong Courtney Vance's clown is adorable I mean they don't know it you know and maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about but when I watch them I go oh it's good that's really good you know that's a good one kill the swing geez yeah forget about it so I can grant you uh the superpower of having lunch with any filmmaker or actor on the planet tomorrow clear schedule who should we who should we book you with Tamara Jonathan Tilda Swinton she's on another frequency there's something she's Mystic yeah yeah yeah it was until then and Mark rylance they both share that you're right they're both two of my favorites yeah you see like you know in our interactions the last few months I feel like you are simultaneously the most chill man on the planet and the most driven man on the planet what would you what what would your friends say about you the the close people in your world like which is it a fusion of both of them are you more one or the other is it depending on which day of the week it is or what um I think amongst well there's the public and the private you know um I tried to I think my friends would say um I play a different position with friends you know I mean here I'm just worried about me and my work you know what I mean and I have to be relaxed in it yeah and I have to be driven and I'm pretty um I allow myself to be ambivalent about certain things which is I think it's healthy um and then there is to drive right it's different you know this ambition that's dry there's certain things I can't help you know um and I think that's what a lot of my uh friends would say you know quite passionate you know I'm very passionate you know and uh driven you know um but I just like that you know I just got this yeah I just did but you know we can watch it too like spaghetti you know oh yeah that balance is important and I think those close to me would you know I feel quite comfortable with you you know so yeah I think you're getting you know pretty much friend Vibes kicking it Vibes you know I appreciate that man um yeah it's really impressed me also that thus far in the career which is still relatively young at least in the film work bro it's very it's it's just a big it's it's the juvenile which I think is a great word your Nursery School um but you know it's uh you you talked last time about like building the museum right the Museum of the career so like we've got like the different and does that mean like genre does that mean types of characters like what do you spell out for me a little bit it means all of it you know like um you walk into a Picasso exhibit you know if of course you expect to see certain pieces you know there's cubism over there right yeah of course that's does gosh so we're going to see that but then one of these charcoal paintings over here what's that right and you walk down the hall so you could call that you know whatever you want to call it just call it uh last but Mass San Francisco where those over there you know you go down the hall furthermore and you see you know these sculptures whether that these huge sculptures well that's Kang of course you know and then behind that you see you know what is that what is that made out of oh that that looks like a sports film you know but they all have that initial on it it's all got that you know Picasso as he writes it as we've all seen it you know it's all written there um you build it up you know I think I think one of my biggest things is um you know sometimes my friends would probably say he's quite frustrated I'm very frustrated that's very true about me I'm a constant state of frustration is it is it frustrated with your own stuff or external stuff or or everything what are we talking about um external and internal you know of course because I ref I'm ref I'm projecting the world as I as I feel it inside so yeah there's a about 40 30 is a is a high level of um uh frustration um I said to say that one of my objectives is to um uh one of my objectives is to be understood right and so it is through that frustration that fuels that need to be understood and so the more work we make right and the more um diverse it is um potentially the more I could be understood right because if you're only statues no one knows you or can understand you through watercolor yeah I only do these you know small independent films no one sees you at the scale of a Damian but if you only do you know these big Blockbusters how can someone possibly understand a rom-com version of you you know like I it's insatiable you know to be understood right primarily I think just I don't know where we are on time but it feels like that's what I felt was wrong with that kid at the end of the table that I was with the hoodie and the pants and this and that and by his Lonesome you know he he was frustrated and and sad and because he he couldn't be understood right yeah it was it was he was he was he was on the outside of the hurricane you know and he couldn't get purchase of anything you know and now in adulthood you know maybe that ease that you witnessed is me sitting in the middle of it and being very particular about how to articulate myself which is the museum right well and it doesn't just by the way apply to actors that's all any of us want is to be seen for our true selves right yeah yeah I I think that's true you know I think that's true I know we have to Rap Man but just to say it I I I'm so impressed because look it's um it's hard to have integrity at all in this business and especially like you're you're working you're working in IP you're working in like Marvel and and Rocky movies it's like oh you know this is the this is the machine and what you're doing within that is truly great it's truly inspiring it's special work man and I I'm I feel so privileged that we've gotten a chance to get to know each other a bunch the last few months and I know we're gonna chat a lot more man and and I thank you as always for the time well I mean listen man believe it or not it's highlight of my day so far yeah man chatting with you even though I had to you know talk some [ __ ] to my guys over here yeah but it's been the best part of the day I mean that yeah all right I hope to see you soon in person man get some rest see you buddy

Channel: Josh Horowitz

Views: 37,067

Keywords: josh horowitz, happy sad confused, interview, jonathan majors, jonathan majors interview, ant-man and the wasp quantumania, kang the conqueror, creed iii, jonathan majors creed, jonathan majors kang

Id: lddt_FTbh9M

Length: 36min 54sec (2214 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 02 2023