Michael B. Jordan kicked off 2018 with a ‘Black Panther’ sized bang and is closing it on an equally notable level.
For, just weeks before his boxing blockbuster ‘Creed 2’ hits the big screen, he’s been named a GQ Man Of The Year.
Aptly, he’s nabbed one of four covers for the publication’s December issue and poses it up for a stylish winter-themed shoot.
It’s his accompanying interview feature, though, that best captures the actor’s journey, drive, and goals for the future.
Head below, where the 31-year-old discusses race, dating, and wanting a narrative that isn’t defined by color.
On Climate Improving For Actors Of Color:
“I want to be worldwide.”
Hollywood, Jordan says, is getting better for creators of color, “because we’re starting to realize our worth more and what we bring to the table.”
He hated the feeling that the rule of one—there can be only one successful P.O.C. at a time in a white-dominated industry—was at play. “You feel like you’re pitted against each other, in hindsight. I was like, ‘Damn! Everybody should be able to, like, work and grow and eat together. We’re not. Well, then, I guess there’s not enough roles.’ ” Even then, the solution seemed obvious to Jordan: “I guess the only logical thing to do is to create more roles.” Something Jordan is doing with his new company Outlier Society Productions.
On Taking Approaching Career Color-Blind :
He and his agent, Phillip Sun, say they now take a color-blind approach to choosing Jordan’s projects, which may sound like a naive post-racial platitude, but they’ve been using it to underwrite a smart business plan for Michael, Inc. “Obviously, there are certain roles in film and television that are specifically African-American, usually period pieces,” Sun says. “But why, if he were just an actor, why would he be limited to only those roles? He was like, ‘Why should other people be held back like that? Why shouldn’t stories from different points of view be told more frequently? What is holding people back from doing that?’ And at the end of the day, we all know in Hollywood: It’s star power. If you have the star that wants to lead the way in that way, they’re going to do it.”
On Inspiring The Next Generation:
“I remember when it used to be like, ‘He’s the next Will Smith.’ Now I’m the example of the next—they’re looking for the next me.”
On Dating Life:
“I don’t even know how you’re going to write this. I’m so nervous even talking like this.
My career is awesome. It is going great. There’s other places in my life that I’m f*cking lacking at. I’m very mature and advanced in a lot of areas of life. Dating may not be one of ’em. My personal life is not. I don’t really know what dating is.
But it’s like, I could meet you, right now, boom, right here. Me and you sitting here chilling, whatever. Meal, whatever. Somebody could be over there, see this. And all of a sudden, you’re my girl now.
So then they’re going to talk about you, they’re going to find out who you are. They’re gonna find out what your Instagram is, they’re going to find us in that and now you and I are forever associated with one another. So now, how do you go anywhere normal, chill, just getting to know somebody that you just met, that you may not—may or may not—hit it off at all? That part of dating is tough.
Now, I’m not saying options aren’t there. I’m not saying that. But as far as, like, the nuance of dating, it’s just not the same. I’m just going to keep trying to work on myself and build this empire.”
On His Legacy:
“I want to make this thing so my family ain’t gotta worry about nothing,” Jordan says of his empire. “My mom and dad, my brother and sister, my nieces, my future nieces and nephews, my future kids—everybody is going to be good. I want intergenerational wealth. I’m going to have fun writing my will. Oh, my God. It’s going to be so much fun.”
‘Creed 2’ arrives 21st November.