NEW YORK – He’s already shown off his athleticism on camera as duel threat high school quarterback Vince Howard in the television series Friday Night Lights, but actor Michael B. Jordan will be adding another sport to his repertoire when he takes on the role of Apollo Creed’s boxer grandson in the next installment of the iconic Rocky franchise.
“That’s definitely going down. That’s definitely going to happen,” Jordan told For The Win recently. “It’s the same writer/director from Fruitvale Station, Ryan Coogler. We’ve got Sylvester Stallone coming back as Rocky Balboa, which is a really big deal to get his approval and permission to take this franchise into another direction. I’m excited. Carl Weathers, his Apollo Creed is such an iconic character. To be able to play his grandson and start boxing training and get into the mindstate of a fighter, I’m really excited about it.”
Jordan, who received critical acclaim for his role in 2013’s Fruitvale Station and will play The Human Torch in two upcoming Fantastic Four films, has made the move to the big screen pretty seamlessly since his memorable roles on television shows like The Wire and Parenthood.
Neither of those jobs gave him the opportunity to run a two-minute offense in the course of filming.
“When there was not a lot of dialogue and it was concentrated on the football, we were pretty intense. We had an A team and a B team,” Jordan said. “The A team were more of the younger characters and the B team was mostly ex-college players, ex-NFL players who were going out there and doing most of the stunts.”
Jordan, who is also a new endorser for AXE’s Gold Temptation fragrance, had no need for Coach Taylor to pull him, regardless of the scene.
“The thing with me since I was the running back/quarterback I had the ability to do a lot of my own stunts because I didn’t get hit a lot. I took a couple visits down to UT and checked out Colt McCoy when he was there and picked up some pointers. It was a cool time to be in Texas shooting that show.”
Here’s a few of his exploits from his time on the field at East Dillon.
