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Michael B. Jordan was in great shape for "Black Panther", but he resumed his routine for "Creed II", the last film of "Rocky" with Sly Stallone.
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NEW YORK – The stars, they are like us. Or at least they are trying to be.

Michael B. Jordan can not go out without being recognized, his chiseled physique is currently stuck on billboards and bus announcements for "Creed II" (in theaters Wednesday) and his role as a thief in the role of the villain "Black Panther" Erik Killmonger are still present in the memories.

"There are some places where I can not go and some things I can not do," says Jordan, 31, with a sigh. "I'm always trying to find things that make me regular, at least in my head, like going to the grocery store." Sometimes, I want to choose the apple I want to eat, rather than the one that I'm looking for. one gives me. "

The sunglasses and baseball caps do not shock the fans of his perfume either. "I would have liked to be able to wear beard, hooded clothes and sunglasses, but people may think that I'm trying to rob the place, and that's not it." not cool, "he says. "Or maybe I think too much."

It is these concerns that preoccupy him when he gets on the Hollywood A list, after being revealed to be a prominent man in the "Rocky" franchise, the "Creed" franchise in 2015, which has reported nearly $ 110 million.

The sequel resumes shortly after the events of the first film, with the tenacious boxer Adonis Creed (Jordan), new world champion and engaged with his girlfriend musician, Bianca (Tessa Thompson). But a fracture is formed between him and his graying mentor, Rocky Balboa (Sylvestre Stallone), when Adonis accepts the challenge of fighting the imposing Ukrainian boxer Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), whose father Ivan (Dolph Lundgren) killed the father of Adonis Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in 1985 "Rocky IV."

Adonis "is still very hurt by the death of his father and the fact that the Dragos are reintroduced in this situation has brought back many bad stories and memories," Jordan said. "The taste of vengeance is in his mouth" and, therefore, "he is a bit immature, he is moved and humiliated in a real way, what he experiences in this film allows him to reevaluate what is important to him and what belongs to him "why" to fight. "

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Adonis Creed, played by Michael B. Jordan, confronts the son of the Russian fighter who killed his father in "Creed II".
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Having already taken off for "Black Panther", Jordan states that it was easy to fall back into his "Creed" workout routine, which involved intense cardio and boxing training and a tighter diet and leaner (with the exception of occasional occasions of Philly Cheese Chilly).

To play Killmonger, Jordan "won the mass .It was a weapon," says Steven Caple Jr., director of "Creed II" "But in this film, he wanted to be at his best, we wanted it to be as realistic as possible when he faces Florian.He (a) was cut and shredded to look great in front of a camera – this is probably the best form in which he has ever been. "

Emotional issues are also raised during this round, while Adonis struggles with the very real possibility that her newborn daughter will inherit Bianca's progressive hearing loss.

Getting ready for these scenes was "difficult because I do not have children, so I can only imagine what it would be like: feeling so desperate to help your child that you are supposed to be there to protect and you can not do anything about it, "says Jordan. But as a person who "always thought of fatherhood and childhood, it was cool to play that role for a while."

Rocky (Sylvester Stallone, right) reluctantly coaches Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) to face Viktor Drago in the ring. (Photo: Barry Wetcher / MGM / Warner Bros. VIA AP)

Smitten fans will be happy to know that Jordan is still single, Despite all the efforts of the internet to pair him with his co-starred "Black Panther", Lupita Nyong & # 39; o.("I love him to death," he says, but "people will write their own stories, I have no control over that.")

The actors are in the midst of a serious rewards campaign for the Marvel superhero's historic juggernaut, which has raised US $ 1.3 billion worldwide since its release in February, and broke the common myth in Hollywood that black-dominated movies do not sell tickets overseas.

The phenomenon that surrounds him is "honestly still so difficult to understand," said Jordan, marveling at the innumerable memes and Halloween costumes for kids inspired by his character. He attributes the success of "Panther" largely to his frequent collaborator, Ryan Coogler, who "allowed people to see and feel things that they would not normally do" in a Marvel movie: incorporate a message timely to build bridges rather than barriers and sparks deeper discussions about identity and the African diaspora.

While Coogler is already working hard on a sequel, "Panther" plans to halt the rewards season in the meantime: on GoldDerby.com, rewards experts almost unanimously predict that the blockbuster will get a better Oscar nomination , with a handful of others waiting for Jordan to pick up a supporting actor as well. If that were the case, his performance would be the first of a superhero movie to be recognized by the Academy since the memorable tour of Heath Ledger (and an Oscar winner) of the Joker in "The Dark Knight" in 2008.

"That would mean a lot, man, I would be part of history and that would be part of my heritage," Jordan said. Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, the son of a caterer and a high school guidance counselor, he was not the kid who practiced the speeches of ############################################################################# Oscar in his bathroom mirror: "I've never even dreamed of it, I was not one of those kids who always knew I wanted to be an actor."

In "Black Panther", the friendly radical Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) wants to share Wakanda's resources with the world and defeat them in turn. (Photo: MARVEL STUDIOS)

After working as a child model, at the age of 14, he won the crucial role of the unfortunate Wallace in "The Wire" of HBO. Years of regular TV work on ABC's "All My Children" and NBC's "Friday Night Lights" followed, leading to his remarkable performance in Coogler's "Fruitvale Station" in 2013, in which he starred Oscar Grant to the police in real life.

"I was always convincing myself that (my big departure) was coming in. I was pretending it, in the sense that I thought I had confidence, but there was a lot of doubt there as well," Jordan said. "I stayed on the way and I kept working hard knowing that good would come in. I never knew it was going to happen as fast and so huge."

He now hopes to follow a trajectory similar to that of his idols, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington. He founded a production company, Outlier Society Productions, which produced his next drama "Just Mercy" and the Netflix series "Raising Dion", with the goal of creating more opportunities for people of color.

The charismatic young drummer also picks up a page from Dwayne's book "The Rock" Johnson's popularity of megastars, recently by telling his Instagram followers that he intends to become more "personal" and share more of his life with them.

"I'm a quiet guy, but you're in this new era where fans want to feel a little closer to you," said Jordan. "So, instead of people making their own assumptions about me, let them help a little bit and give them more of me, so that they do not have to fill as many whites."

Contributor: Bryan Alexander

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