This weekend, Michael B. Jordan heads to Studio 8H for his Saturday Night Live hosting debut. Ahead of his episode, Jordan stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to talk a bit about SNL, his Black Panther: Wakanda Forever appearance, and Creed III. The upcoming sequel brings viewers back to the boxing ring, and it also marks Jordan's directorial debut. During the interview, he shares a bit about his experience directing and acting in the same movie.
Directing comes with its share of challenges, but one of the biggest for Jordan was directing while acting during many of the boxing scenes. However, he was able to find ways to use that to his advantage, and turned to other directors like Ryan Coogler and Jon Favreau for additional advice:
"It’s tough. You got a mouthpiece in sometimes, you got gloves. You’re always depending on so many people. Your team is everything. So, to be able to be in the middle of a boxing scene, honestly it’s sometimes easier because I can direct while I’m acting. If I need to move you upstage a little bit, I just move a little bit like this, and then I get the shot that I need."
As the Creed movies are part of the bigger Rocky universe, there's also the question of how to differentiate one movie from the others. The key variety Jordan wanted was making the boxing matches different. He shared that while it was tough, it helped him change things up. He also drew inspiration from a major outside source:
"It was a gift and a curse. There’s been eight other movies before me, and we’ve shot – you can shoot a boxing match so many different ways. I think ‘cause I was kinda put in a corner, it forced me to be more creative and really think outside the box of how to make the fights different...and I had a huge Japanese anime influence on a lot of my fighters."
Creed III takes place seven years following Creed II. It sees Creed thriving in his personal and professional life. When his childhood friend, Damian (Jonathan Majors), makes an unexpected return after being imprisoned, Creed finds himself caught in one of his biggest boxing matches yet.
Creed III releases in theaters March 3. Catch Jordan's SNL hosting debut this Saturday, January 28 at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC, live-streaming simultaneously on Peacock. Watch the full Tonight Show interview below: