Michael B Jordan said “Creed III” was the perfect film to make his directorial debut on.
The 35-year-old actor, who will reprise his role as Adonis Creed in the “Rocky” spin-off, said he felt it was the ideal time to make his bow behind the camera.
Speaking to Collider, Jordan said: “For me, it was the perfect time. Growing up on set, in the industry, over 20 years, and start out doing background work and extra work and just seeing the sets evolve and seeing everybody's job and seeing how a real production took place, I finally got to this place in my career where I wanted to tell a story and not just be in front of the camera to execute somebody else's vision.”
Jordan has played Adonis in two previous movies and said he was at the stage of his career where he could tell a story with his life experiences.
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He said: “It's a character that I've played twice before. It's been seven or eight years living with this guy. I'm telling a story of where I believe Adonis is at, and also at 35 years old, I had a lot to say, as a young man and as a young black man, with my life experiences.”
The “Just Mercy” star said family was a central theme in the movie, which sees Creed taking on his childhood friend and former boxing prodigy Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors).
Jordan said: “Thematically, for us, family is always the core – family and heart. There's a bit of facing your past and finding out who you really are.
“That's something we address in this movie. It's a homecoming. Remembering where you come from is really important in this.
“Sometimes settling debts and being accountable for your actions is something that we wanted to look at. This movie has a lot of me in it, and hopefully a lot of other people, as well.
“I wanted to create a story where everybody felt like they could relate to something in this movie.”