Michael B. Jordan & Charlize Theron - Actors on Actors - Full Conversation

[Music] Michael tell us a little bit about just the phenomenon of Black Panther and just being involved in that and how that started did you I mean obviously you have a relationship with Ryan yeah it's uh you know Ryan's like my guy you know we kind of started out in the film industry doing you know for bus station two Creed's a black panther and when he first gave me the call about playing a villain for the first time you know or antagonist I like to call him because he's a little more complicated yeah your typical villain you know I was really excited you know it kind of had that conversation once he told me what the movie was gonna be about and the kind of thematic sand the themes that he want to put into it I was uh I was really really excited about it and watch the movie kind of grow and take a life of its own yeah uh kind of when did he bring it up to you when was the first time you heard about it um once I knew that Black Panther was going to be a part of the Marvel Universe and they were guarantee they could do a standalone film and I knew Ryan was up for the job as soon as he got it he called me yeah yeah he gave me a call and he was just was so nice I got this role for you I think you should I think you should do it I'm gonna be a good movie and it was it was a no brainer for me you did you say yes before you read the script oh for sure yeah that's kind of how we work you know I know you wouldn't like offer me anything that wouldn't be like a good luck and all in the long term and our shorthand is incredible when our relationship was there so it's like yes it's it's super unofficial like not the traditional way that's kind of my relationship with Jason Reitman except for he won't let me play anything other but miserable a miserable woman that's it yeah so he just he just loves it he's like I just love seeing you miserable well I mean you you make people feel like well is it miserable no I feel like you like it's an empathetic quality quality I think you had too many people like just lock in with whatever emotions you're going through at the moment people just seem to feel exactly what you're wrong okay yeah what oh it's milk I make milk what was your prep like on telly like I just ate that was pretty much it I just ate a lot um I you know from the time that Jason works really fast so from the time that we pretty much got the first draft from Diablo Cody we were on set three months later so his prep is really quick and he likes to work fast and I weirdly like that too like I I think there's this strange thing I don't know about you but sometimes they feel like I look at relationships with me as an actor and a director is kind of like a marriage not that I've ever been married before us I don't know if I should go by that but where you have to meet your partner in the middle sometimes right like you might not work the same way or there might be a way that you like to do it more than your filmmaker but then you realize you have to do that in order you can't just have it your way not at all as definite like that middle ground yeah with Jason there's no middle ground with Jason it's like we work exactly the same way we like we're like the same person on set it's very strange so it was it was pretty quick I mean I've from the time that it's a little bit like your story with Ryan where he heard the idea from Diablo and called me immediately so it was one of those things to where I you know I said yes before I even looked at the script because I knew what Diablo was going to do exactly would be great and then the knowing the idea and the concept around it it wasn't so much that I had to like prep for it it really kind of just came from a mixture of my own journey as a mom my second one was when Jason pitched this to me was a newborn okay and so I was I was literally in Marlo's world when this idea came to me and when diabla was writing and then I also just have really really close girlfriends who who had a really hard time with postpartum depression and it's what isn't that weird like somehow like when the moment like where you are in your life and you get a project that that speaks directly to you it's like where you're at like what you're going through emotionally or mentally then it almost doesn't seem like work so on somebody's like what was your process and getting into this just being me just living like oh yeah camera did you what project was that for you where you felt like it just kind of like was your life at that moment I think for me that would that was probably Creed one Creed one for me just kind of like wanting to come into my own yeah at the time I think I like 26 27 and wanting to feel validated as an actor I feel like you know to myself though you know I kind of wanted to like have that self-confidence that I could you know carry a film that I could you know be completely believable and and and just all the little actor insecurities that we have kind of put everything into that first film into that character and it seemed like you know the decisions that Adonis was making throughout that film I personally had thought about at one time or another so to kind of see that kind of like I don't have that outlet yeah that work was uh was was fun it was it was needed it's like a therapy session I guess they're so good in those memories maybe so good thank you thank you that speech I mean that's a that's a crazy physical I mean you're in great shape but you look like a boxer it's insane and that's that they thank you you look more like most a boxer than most boxers thank you no it's the truth I'll take that one yeah I want to live like a fighter too that's why I just hung out with like all boxers you know I went through their daily routine I got probably I basically tell them like don't treat me like actor like please that's like don't take it easy on me whatsoever I needed to feel you know the bruise is I wanted the you know the was on my hands I needed I needed to feel that so when I stepped on the in that ring there was no doubt in my mind that I didn't yeah the work yeah yeah yeah to be that person so it helped out a lot I hope that a lot awesome but you don't think I could be is that what you're trying to say no that's not what I'm saying I'm saying I'm not gonna be here forever then what's that supposed to mean it means you got to do some smart thinking but you want to talk about smart decisions Rock you win this house all alone question so being from South Africa and um you know in having a daughter that's from there as well like what type of I don't know how did you feel like if you saw a black panther oh I'm not sure every did yes I know no but like what type of impact did that have on you like when like I don't know why would that make you feel so yeah I was born and raised in South Africa during the apartheid era I'm okay and I am very much a white African who lived and and and thrived under tremendously dark circumstances and that really marks you as a person yep whether that's your ideology or not you're living in it and you know when you're young you don't know anything different and then you grow up and you see the rest of the world you're lucky enough like I was lucky enough to see the rest of the world you know something is wrong but you don't necessarily understand the the broad-strokes of it and I was you know I was a young girl so I was 15 and 91 when when apartheid was dropped yeah so I didn't realize until I think in my late 20s 30s how much anger I had inside me anger and guilt for just living my life circumstantially in a place that I didn't necessarily choose yeah and weirdly it was the thing that drove me for the first time because I've had some tragedy in my life but it's the it was this thing that drama that took me towards therapy okay very unaware Lee like a therapist had to point that out to me I was like why do you keep asking me these questions and she's like I think you have a tremendous amount of anger about all of this stuff so for me to watch Black Panther as the person that I am and I know this sounds crazy to a lot of people but is a very emotional thing it was a very emotional thing for me to watch it yes I have two young girls two young beautiful black african-american girls not from South Africa okay no no I wish they wouldn't give me a baby but I I had a very emotional reaction to it I still do when I think about it because I cannot wait to share that movie with them I had this like weird reaction watching it when I I said to myself I cannot wait for my girls to be big enough to share this with them well that's amazing because it's so much more than just whether you're from Africa or whether you're African American or it's a it's such a bigger thing than that that movie broke so many glass ceilings across the board not just the fact that there are women and power and that they're black beautiful strong african-american women African women I know that you guys shot with a lot of South Africans as well and that my children are gonna benefit from that but that I got something very cathartic out of that yes you know really really cathartic out of that as an African woman as a woman just in general I mean it's so empowering to watch that movie know that's incredible I'd never thought about that perspective that's a that's pretty yeah that's that's that's very moving I'll pop Sedwick on there was the most beautiful thing you ever seen he promised he was gonna show it to me one day you believe it what did you think when you were either making the movie or after you saw the movie what did you think the impact was gonna be was it anything close to what it ended up being no across the board I think when I first did you know you were working on something this as special I knew we were working on something special yeah after reading the script knowing what the cast who the cast were gonna be no one Ryan's gonna be telling the story yeah you kind of know what you're gonna get from yeah I'm just gonna it's gonna mean something that's gonna be very grounded no matter how fans ask what how big the world is it's gonna it's gonna really like hit home and while we were filming it you know we had moments on set where we all kind of looked at each other like wow that was really powerful because the process of the conversation that we were having in rehearsals and figuring out what each character wanted from that perspective like I found myself having a conversation I didn't know I I needed yeah you know being being african-american and and still feeling disconnected from Africa yeah it's a complicated thing and and hearing stories about Africa before I had a chance to go visit you know from your elders from people who you know you know my mom my grandmother you know older family friends but they've never been Africa either so this is from an outside perspective so to be able to kind of have conversations with people from Nigeria and from Ghana you know and and and from South Africa and actually hear what it what their perspective on us is as African Americans I was like man wow this is some this is very very complicated it made me question identity you know and where I came from and so anyway getting back to when we were filming it I knew they were I did a lot of growing so it meant a lot to me and I knew it was gonna be special but I had no idea how the outside world was gonna like really like look at it and how I was gonna impact them so once I started you know obviously you see the it goes viral you know you see all the memes and a social media element you kind of you kind of know that you know the culture you know I'm saying in this generation is really picking up on it but when you start you know seeing you know church groups and community centers and you know they're taking you know Boys and Girls Club they're going to take you know at at you at-risk youth you know let's go see this film and you just see the entire community kind of get together and and and go see this film and support this film breaking all the records all that other good stuff is awesome but when you see the cultural impact and you see the impact of other nationalities other ethnicities that have the same visceral reaction to it a sense of pride of where they come from and in during the press tour of that movie seeing the journalists come in and like the traditional garbs and like hearing stories about how this movie encouraged them to kind of get back in continent and in contact with their with their roots and where they come from it gave everybody a sense of pride and I was like wow this movie is like global it's not just you know the African experience and that's what it's framed in but you know it gives everybody else access to that same type of self-discovery and I think that's when I really started to realize the impact that it was going to have and then of course their Halloween you know you see the other costumes oh yeah you know a little like kill mongers the little girls dressed up as Dora Malaya and yeah it was it was a it was it was really incredible you know yeah so I think while we were making it you didn't really realize it and then in hindsight it's like yeah we kind of did that yeah we made a big splash that was for the books balance for the books for the books it is yeah I mean you can like make many mistakes now you should just be like reckless fearless just jump off every building and take chances cuz you're gonna be fine right hey she said she said they must be true you just live your life and we're gonna start living it so you could just lock me up just burned me in the ocean with my ancestors that jumped from the ships because they knew death was better than bondage as actors you know we you know I've always being told what to do kind of from you know from my actors perspective when did you want to start you know producing and kind of like controlling your own destiny and you know really controlling projects that you wanted to make so I didn't I don't know if I would have naturally veer I think I would have because ultimately producing is just another way of storytelling for me anyway and that kind of developing process and taking a kernel and making it grow and develop into something that ultimately takes you on this journey of discovery is really what we do as actors it's just a shorter version that journey yeah sometimes as a producer it takes years but I it came out of the necessity of wanting to control or not control but protect I think I was asked to do this film monster with the first time director patty Jenkins nobody would know also she is and she she had never directed anything and she wanted to make a film that felt to me like she wanted to take some really you know big risks and ultimately I knew where we were gonna end up in a situation where we might be asked to not take that much of a risk okay and that she might not be able to fight for that just of the position because of the position that she was in and I I felt like I had this luxury why not use it and so it came out of that necessity of wanting to protect her and the film so that was almost 20 years ago yeah and then that that's where Denver and Delilah kind of came from that's where then Delilah came from yeah and so we kind of like sharpened our teeth on that one and that was an interesting one to sharpen your teeth on because you know we couldn't we ended up fighting to make the movie that we ended up making and it was great once we were actually on location we didn't necessarily have our finance years on set we were in you know crappy alleyways so they didn't want to show up so we were okay and this was back in the day when it took like three weeks for dailies to get back to Los Angeles was only like 24 days so we were like you know by the time they got and then they saw what we were doing and they didn't have enough time to freak out and stop the movie daddy but when we when we finished the film and started to find a buyer for it you know we couldn't everybody was like it's a great movie but I don't want it I don't know what to do with this no and we were days we were I think a day away from signing a blockbuster deal for it to go straight to video and it just happened that Bob Burnie showed up who you know is a huge reason why that movie even saw the light of day and that I got nominated and won an Academy Award for it so we you know miracles happen trust your good intuition telling you all along and you fall for what you believed in yeah and there's this moment where you realize oh how that feels good right that feels good to not buckle just stay on the road that you set out to go on yeah and and to do that with another woman was incredible experience to have somebody when I had my moments of doubt just go know we're making this movie this is the movie we're making and I was like maybe I should smile more maybe maybe I should just not I'm just like no you just keep you know and to have that kind of partnership I think of McCann tree place it like that that relationship that you guys have but that made the difference yeah and that element of producing gives you another layer where you can kind of broaden it right and I think for me now I really value that relationship of like working with filmmakers in a way where I can bring to the table something that is helpful some experience but also a sense of you know I've been through it enough to know that it's worth the risk it's worth and that's what's so interesting about what's happening right now because they think we are seeing the payoff for big risks like Black Panther was a risk okay you know what I mean that's a huge risk movies like Tully obviously not as big a financial risk but still a risk because who wants to go see a movie or this is what they say who wants to go see a movie about postpartum depression well you know what 50% of the population out there are women and I think 40% of them are having kids so go yourself you can edit that out but that kind of attitude is what's changing right and we're doing it because they think there is more diversity now in those and we need more of it but in those positions where you know Ryan can say this is the movie I'm gonna make and he had to earn that you know and we have to work to make that easier but it is an interesting place right now that I didn't necessarily feel we had 20 years ago 20 years ago an actor producing was a vanity deal exactly it was the kind of thing that no nobody thought you did anything really take you seriously it was like we'll just tell her she was in the meeting but she well you know what I mean it just it it didn't have any value behind it nothing I'm benefiting from that because I started my own production company as well thank you so much I'm so seriously but that's the truth you know you guys have you fought those hard battles you know in the beginning that made it that got us to this tipping point where you know an actor can come in with you know start his own production company and not be looked at as a vanity deal and really put the work in and you know put the time in behind the camera and give notes and have an opinion on cast there and and and where the story goes and it work out um whether it being you know on the big screen in film or the small screen in television I think it's it's that we're definitely at a tipping point where where we're actors have more opportunities to really really have a have a push and where that project actually goes I don't want a stranger in my house bonding with my newborn every night it's like a Lifetime movie we're the nanny tries to kill the family and the mom it survives and she has to walk with a cane at the end all right well we had a night nanny I don't remember that I think for me you know making sure that you know inclusion is implemented on every one of my projects that I'm producing the inclusion writer was it was the first time I actually saw like a you know an official of official you know official document for it just like okay but what is inclusion writer and as a black actor like I would have you know it as a person of color I wouldn't have thought about it is second nature it's like okay of course I'm hiring like women strong women smart women great awesome you know you know people of color of course great you know people from different you know social backgrounds of communities of course like of course everybody is going to get get on board so the kind of like link up with a studio like Warner Brothers you know and and be able to help write their inclusion policy and collaborate with them on that I think it takes a big company a big studio like that to set a precedent so everybody else feels comfortable and or feels like okay you know I'm not first money in but if they did it I'm going to do it yeah and a hopeful example show by example exactly and then hopefully you know we'll see it won't be as much of a thing it could be the norm you know I think that's the goal is to make inclusion the norm so it doesn't have to be talked about and discussed all the time it's great now that we have examples to write before when we were trying to fight this battle it was like well you just can't do that I mean that's just never gonna work there's our audience for that you know and we've hyped yeah we've really kind of broken through those brick walls in the last 10 years they feel like now you have examples to point out there's no excuses for it anymore is what I'm saying there used to be a lot of excuses for it and they used they used to hide behind financial reasons it was never really creative it was always financial of course and now that you can actually shut them up with that it's like the world is your oyster it really is and we're also giving representation to the next generation so you know something now every now so frenzied everybody's looking for inclusion everybody's looking for that diversity you're really looking for that no pizza culture to say like oh I have this and so I'm not that you know or you know I'm a part this movement but then it's the reality of his like will there's not that many on the level that these studios and producers felt comfortable enough but about giving that big-budget to or that explore that opportunity to so I think it's gonna take a little bit more time to kind of encourage and inspire these these future students yeah film of you know directing of sound you know costume design editing you know all the different you know departments that goes into making the film now they know that that's an option so let me let that they have time for that to become their passion so they can grow into those those opportunities that are now waiting for them so yeah thanks we're taking steps yeah we took a lot of steps but but but I think we have a long way to go but we're making progress for sure yeah we're making progress we've both been in big bug Buster films stop bragging but um you know Mad Max got a lot of you know attention during the words are done awards season and obviously the Academy Awards I not only think but fully believe that black panther I would go as far as maybe win but should definitely be nominated for the Oscars and you know that is a huge change that's happened to I think and we need more of it twenty years ago making you when you made a big action film it was like you were selling out as an actor somehow you were taking the money and the work didn't matter and that's really changed I think you know there were a handful of directors back then like right like Cameron Crowe I mean Jim Cameron Peter Johnson so those films always existed but the idea that there was any value or any kind of creative artistic cachet like there was something that was Oscar worthy behind it was always kind of compartmentalized into visual effects special effects makeup like those are usually the boxes that God check yeah and that's really changed now I I feel like the level of storytelling that I did as an actor in fury road was probably some of the most like complex storytelling that I've ever done in my career and when you look at a film like that to just disregard it for which used to happen didn't happen with that film and I don't think it's gonna happen with black panther no I think just adding to that I think it's being able to work with somebody like Ryan who's come from independent film yeah you know out of Sundance made this $900,000 independent film with one camera you know in 20 days by the way so similar to patty Jenkins like the last film that she did was like 24 days million dollars it's insane it is but but we stayed true the character the you know the the world that we were building the relationships that were inside that movie and now you take a filmmaker like that and you give them resources you give them a bigger budget you give them a bigger world to play with but the character and that that true indie kind of you know arthouse kind of feel is still there and I think that's one of the big differences now when you know you put somebody like Ryan Coogler you know in front of in front of a project like Black Panther that that plays into the bigger blockbuster world the Marvel Universe of it all but it still feels like you know it's a project that could have went the Sundance yeah so it's just nice to for me it's really nice at least to not feel that pressure anymore that I definitely felt early in my career is that that shame of like oh you're doing a big blockbuster like oh you've never felt that oh you lucky bastard definite feeling of like judgment okay oh I guess you're there in your career oh I guess you needed the money I guess that's there was no reason behind yeah choosing to do something and the weird thing was I I'll be the first person to admit if those were my reasons I like big movies yes I love corne movies people are like why are you and why am i in fast cuz I love those movies they are so amazing so that shame I think has been erased now and well thank you again no I had nothing to do with that that I know big blockbuster movies or not I don't take any credit there except for being lucky enough to be in fury road but I do think that having eliminated that has also made us more aware of what audiences really want and that kind of snobbish creative behavior that either came from you know the creators versus the studio's yeah of like guessing what people like like that's been fully eliminated because now we can see what audiences really love the the box-office don't lie and it's just really nice to be able to go tell a good story and not compartmentalize it to not try and label it or to put it in there's onra to just go and make a good film and to not have this fear of trusting filmmakers like patty Jenkins or Ryan Coogler to go and actually given the resources and see what will happen magic like there you go exactly [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Variety

Views: 838,648

Keywords: Variety, Variety Studio, michael b jordan, charlize theron interview, charlize theron kids, charlize theron daughters, charlize theron black panther, charize theron michael b jordan, charlize theron tully, michael b jordan creed 2, michael b jordan inclusion rider

Id: dk_ztGf_aGE

Length: 29min 40sec (1780 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 03 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/213_]

I really like these Actor on Actor vids.

[u/HasSomeSelfEsteem]

Is it weird I get turned on watching these two?

[u/thatsitbacktowinnipg]

Chipping through it now. Interesting talking about Charlize reflecting on black panther RE: her South-African identity.