The Cast of ‘Creed III’ on Growing Up with Their Characters and Introducing a New Antagonist

Damien's fighting the world he's trying to hurt people I vouch for you you think you mad trying to spending half your life in the cell why did somebody else live your life [Music] I'm coming for everything you threatening me hello everyone and welcome to the Fandango first interview with the cast and filmmakers of Creed Three Michael Tessa Jonathan welcome I have to start with you Michael on this one I have to say it's obviously the continuation of everything that you've done with Adonis Creed but also you know back as an actor more importantly a child actor to now starring and directing in your directorial debut what was it why this story why now this is not the first time I'm sure somebody's asked you know if or when uh yeah whoo child acting tonight yeah it just kind of took me back um I think uh honestly all roads of my personal and professional life kind of led to this moment you know I think every set that I've been on every director that I had an opportunity to um to work with you know other actor that I had an opportunity to share that space with kind of led me to this moment to have a perspective and and to tell a story about a character that I know very well and so funny you said from child actor to now you know I played Adonis for eight years you know eight years and I've actually grown up with him so each movie is kind of like a checkpoint at my personal life you know and what I have to kind of offer to the character as well so this is kind of like you know the latest update of uh you know mbj and Adonis all in one so it's it's a it was a perfect time yeah and Tessa there's you know these two are part of everyone has been a part of it but you've been literally on this journey since you know test screenings and you know script read chemistry tests and such but being on that Journey with him through this um coming back to it with Bianca what was different what were you looking forward and what did you see with him now behind the director in the director's chair that you haven't even seen before even though you guys have been on this journey together yeah so much you know is Mike just kind of alluded to it does feel even though we were technically adults when we started making this film it feels like we've grown up in some ways playing these characters and certainly every time we're back I think we there's a moment we both look at each other and we're like whoa you know and we're back here again and also we're back here as new people because we've always grown and changed and shifted and so much has typically happened for us in between so there is a thing about I don't know something about making these films feels like a you write a postcard to yourself from this time you know and I think something for me that felt tremendous on this one is to get to look at my very dear friends someone I love very much do something that is a leap for them and also something that as Mike said has been preparing to do for so much of his life and so getting to to to see that and to to be able to support him in that it feels like I get to do what Bianca also does in these films which is to support her partner in being the fullest expression of who he is and it was just a gift to get to do that to someone who I love very dearly man it's funny it's so sweet it's funny that you say that it's a gift I will say when I first heard they're like we're gonna give you a couple more weeks before you see it it didn't feel like a gift to me I was mad I was expecting to see y'all with my mom at this time but I'm glad that they did because one of the gifts that that time gave us is more time to learn a little bit more about what your character is going to bring in like interviews and such and I really loved what you sort of alluded to in some of the early interviews is that you know when Mike called you with the pitch and how you guys really talked about the character early on and what he knew you wanted to bring to this role so just tell me about those first conversations because what you brought to it I just I can't wait for folks to see it's incredible oh it's deep those first conversations I mean I feel like we're still having that conversation you know I mean the three of us the chemistry is real our chemistry began I mean I was in Savannah Georgia on a FaceTime call and I was just one I was just blown away as a a member of the industry and as a member of the culture to say oh wait who who wants to talk to me you know what I mean George was have a conversation with you I was like am I in trouble if I mess up no you know um and uh in the best way possible I mean I mean that that's the confidence that Mike gave uh in that phone call that I remember you said um it's so odd for me to say he said you know if we got a Ferrari you're gonna let the Ferrari go yeah you know what I mean yeah and I went I went one I'm in love because you just call me Ferrari uh so I'm with that you know and two just uh the humility at this point I can't go any further without go ahead and jumping into this story because I want to let folks know I got I got a little sample just just a tiny little sample they didn't let me eat the whole meal got a couple rounds so I'm just gonna ask you this Mike coming into this you had the task of director of Debut but then you decided to just do bigger with being one of the first four Sports movies to shoot in IMAX and I've seen some of these fight scenes and after what Ryan and Stephen did sorry yeah first the first yeah first it is congratulations I wonder if the movie feels like it's an IMAX without it being an iMac so I don't even know I've seen it non-imax and it felt Max yeah see I can't imagine what so talk about that those cameras that is a daunting daunting task to really space it out like that again in your first phone you know the funny thing is I didn't even it didn't look like a daunting task to me it was in my mind the only way I could have done it uh being kind of back into a corner of being the last installment you know or not lasting but the latest you know what I'm saying installment of you know this franchise that all the rocky films all the cree films before this they've shot punches a million different ways how do we do something different you know it kind of forced me to be a little bit more creative and to think outside the box and pull inspiration from different cinematic kind of areas so having a fight in IMAX being able to really feel like you're in the ring with the fighters is something that is a challenge that I wanted to see if we can pull it off and the only way to do that was with IMAX camera so we were lucky enough to collaborate with them and they made it you know um you know accessible in a way that we got the job done is it just for the fight scenes just for the fight yeah yeah so the fight stuff the you know the walkouts you know we have you know certain moments where you actually see the frame open up and you really get a chance to walk into this world with our sound design and you know just everything that we have going around we were very deliberate and intentional with the IMAX experience for both does it change the way that the it looks even when it's not an IMAX if you're not watching it in IMAX well there is there is moments where it goes back and forth between 190 and 24 and 240 so it's like it goes back and forth and I think that director I didn't see it in Onyx but it looks there's something about the quality of the fight scenes that look really different than what we've done before yeah does that have to do this also I really want to thank you for the assist on my job literally doing a better job I mean but this is that begs the question because you're right it is extraordinary you've been on a ton of sets that's not something that they normally do to invest that much time the other thing I really loved about this one is seeing YouTube I got to see y'all settled together as a couple and what I loved about that particularly is how settled you were was that this man is just the ultimate fly in the ointment he is such a disruptive Force what was it like bringing that disruption into sort of you know Adonis and Bianca's world oh interesting I mean I you know I think the thing that's always been in in my estimation really aspirational about Donna and Bianca's as a couple Adonis and Bianca biancus [Laughter] okay anyways what's cool about these two I think is you get to see them they feel they feel to me like a real couple in the sense that they they have their issues they have things that they need to talk about and I think as much as you you know hope to know your partner and you get to know them over many years of being together there are always things about another person that remain a mystery to you and I think what you get to see in them in this installment is them have to navigate that because he can't be fully transparent about who he is if he doesn't know fully who he is and there's a part of his past that he hasn't contended with yet and Dame's reappearance gives him the opportunity and the challenge of having to do that and you get to see them figure out how to do that together and I think that that's a really sweet thing it's a I it's so nice to have a successful relationship captured on screen it really is and it was quite easy to disrupt because it was so uh it's so harmonious you know when Dane walks in I I saw them the actors and the characters the space between was was invisible there was no traction cut go go the way they moved the way Tesla was supporting Michael and the way Bianca was supporting Adonis I could see that you know and being the new guy on the set and in the family you know it was so easy to see okay that's real love I can really get in there and try to you know do something to it so it was uh their relationship and all the work they've done and their friendship and all and chemistry on and off screen was a huge gift um to the entire franchise but definitely to me um and my process to get in there I had to it's interesting that you say that this film was the culmination of everything you've done to get to here because there's recent work by both of you that I think we can very much see in what we see on screen with Damon in the sense that yes he's the antagonist in this but the humanity that both your performance and what was written about him has is exceptional like it really is one of those things it's another one of those like I don't agree with them but I understand situations because we also as we all come across but talk about how you and Mike um worked on humanizing that humanizing him as the antagonist through this because I know that was a huge part of what you wanted to do with character Damien is a collaboration his name changed when we got together uh his last name is my maternal grandfather's last name you know Mike allowed that to come in so what we ended up doing was implicating ourselves in the creation of um this character you know implicating our ancestors implicating black men black masculinity you know and so we we got to really evaluate and examine that and I think our goal was to bring a real human being to the screen in order to have a real relationship between the two um yeah it was two sides of the conversation you know we we needed both sides of those conversations you know we want to put a mirror up to our audience and to each other and challenge the way we think of the way we look at each other that sense of identity that Brotherhood and bond and you know the you know it always take the hard way I mean that was the other series because I mean I mean Michael has done incredible work in his in his career and incredible work in the film there's a certain level of um he has a high standard you know I have a high standard you know and so we go okay we're making this guy we're we're actually collaborating and competing to figure out how to make how to contribute the most to making this you know I mean and the beauty of it is we've got the lead of our film and the director so the director's backing me up right after I'm trying to take his head off right but the director I'm like yeah bro let's go priority yeah the priorities got to run yeah yeah yeah yeah it's so great that you talk about freedom because I would imagine with your relationship that freedom is built with trust but it's so refreshing to hear that everybody who came onto this journey with you got to experience that level of freedom but I know on this one you got more freedom again you've lived in this character I mean almost as much as you know I'm not going to mention her but you know who I'm talking about uh you know what I mean like you've gotten to live in this character I mean I made Mission Billy from Cold Case and we'll really go back oh my gosh but you got you really got to um we read that you got to have more you know takes with Bianca and sort of showing especially in motherhood it's always been a real pleasure of playing this character from the beginning I mean the the Bianca that we see in Creed one was really Ryan would we do rehearsals and Ryan would have sometimes like just record us ad-libbing and then it would end up in the in the screenplay we've always worked really actively um with from the script process to development there's I mean there's so many things stuff that Bianca literally wears that I went and shopped I mean I remember the first idea of her was a picture that Ryan coogler had taken of a girl on the you know on the train um in Philadelphia and we were like how do we find this girl and then it was a process of doing that and so to get to continue to do that I think what felt very nice in this process especially is early on Mike being like hey like sit with the writers and let's figure this out and he's always you know there's a tremendous amount of trust that he put with me to be able to work through the dialogue and figure out this woman and who she is at this juncture in her trajectory which is really exciting work to get to do and and then also just the kind of work that you get to do just on you know on set I think there's a real shorthand between us that yes is earned by years but I there's a rare thing that happens occasionally when you have that sort of immediacy with a person which I think we always have had which has just been a a great thing for us in this in this journey thank you all so much and I want to remind everyone that tickets for Creed 3 are on sale now

Channel: Fandango

Views: 588,871

Keywords: creed 3, creed III, fandango, fandango all access, jonathan majors, jonathan majors interview, michael b jordan, michael b jordan interview, rocky, tessa thompson, tessa thompson interview

Id: rJXMcyMBCxA

Length: 14min 35sec (875 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 17 2023