I[/dropocap]f you’re trying to break in to the feature directing game, it helps to already be an A-list actor with a lifetime of industry connections and a built-in audience that knows your name. That’s how Bradley Cooper was able to start at the top, commandeering a $36 million budget for his directorial debut A Star Is Born in 2018, and it looks like that’ll be the path forward for Michael B Jordan in the years to come.
A bulletin from Variety last night broke the news that Jordan will not only return to lead a third installment of the Rocky spinoff series Creed, but that the star will also make this new chapter of the boxing saga his first go behind the camera. His former costars Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad will both be back as well, though a fresh antagonist to pummel our man in the ring has yet to be named.
Though the script for the new film has been written by Keenan Coogler of the new Space Jam sequel and Zach Baylin of the upcoming biopic of Venus and Serena Williams’ father-coach King Richard, original director Ryan Coogler also contributed to the screenplay. (He gets a ‘story by’ credit.) The property’s as robustly healthy as they come, having generated a whopping $214 million last time around, so Jordan’s setting himself up for success.
The Variety item notes that Jordan’s choice to step up and direct mirrors a similar decision from original Rocky star Sylvester Stallone, who helmed the second, third, fourth, and sixth parts in his franchise. Jordan may be even better off; an actor making this transition draws on knowledge they’ve picked up from watching the director’s they’ve worked with, and he names Coogler and Denzel Washington (director of the upcoming Journal for Jordan) as his major influences.
As an untested talent with everything to prove, Jordan will share quite a bit of perspective with young Adonis Creed, another promising young man hungry for glory. That raw ambition has made up for a lack of experience on plenty of occasions in the past – here’s hoping he’s not punching above his weight class.
Creed III comes to presumably reopened cinemas in the UK and US on 23 November, 2022.
Published 11 Mar 2021
By Ashley Clark
A franchise is reborn in sensational fashion courtesy of director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B Jordan.
Journal for Jordan, his directorial follow-up to Fences, will tally the cost of war on the home front.
Michael B Jordan returns as Adonis Creed in this overly sentimental and uninspired rehash of Rocky IV.
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