MANILA, Philippines—In the Warner Bros. Pictures’ action-packed boxing film Creed III, Adonis Creed, is brought to life for the third time by actor Michael B. Jordan, who also directs and produces the film.
He states, “I had a clear vision of what I wanted the story to be, where I wanted the Creed family to go. The challenge of directing helped motivate me—I wanted to see if I had what it takes to act in and direct something that had been kicking around in my head for a long time. ‘Creed III’ is very personal to me and, thankfully, all those things added up to the perfect situation for this movie.”
In the film, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) is excelling in both his profession and his family life after conquering the boxing world. When Damian (Jonathan Majors), a boyhood buddy and previous boxing prodigy, returns from jail after serving a lengthy sentence, he is desperate to prove that he deserves his opportunity in the ring. The confrontation between erstwhile buddies is more than simply a brawl. To redress the score, Adonis must risk his future to face Damian, a boxer with nothing to lose.
“This is an origin story, a sequel, and a trilogy all in one,” says Jordan. “We’ve seen Adonis at a young age in the earlier films, but we never had the chance to really see how he was in and out of juvie, what really shaped him to be the Adonis Creed that we know, before he was adopted and brought into a life of wealth, opportunity and legacy. I felt it would result in a kind of identity crisis for him.”
Image courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Jordan feels a kinship with the character of Adonis. Before Jordan ascended to global superstar with his performance in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, it was the director’s 2015 Creed that introduced Jordan to the power of not just admiring, but being part of, a cinematic legacy.
“I grew up along with Adonis Creed,” says Jordan. “I created him with Ryan and got a chance to play him at pivotal times during my own personal life. So now, in the third film in the series, to be able to tell the story of where I am now, and where Adonis is on his journey, feels extremely personal.
Image courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
“I was excited to see Adonis through to wherever he needed to go next,” Jordan adds. “How does he stay hungry? How does he find motivation now? The answer was, through a reminder about who he was before fame, and before he got everything that he dreamed of. As an actor and a director, that’s what I was most interested in exploring.”
Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Presents a Chartoff-Winkler Production, Creed III is distributed internationally by Warner Bros. Pictures. Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #Creed3
Watch the trailer below: