Michael B. Jordan went to a “dark place” filming ‘Black Panther’.
The 30-year-old actor was inspired by the likes of Michael Fassbender and the late Heath Ledger when it came to throwing himself into his portrayal of villain Erik Killmonger in the upcoming Marvel adventure, and he admitted the role stayed with him for some time afterward.
He said: “It took me to a dark place. Honestly, I can’t really go through all I went through to get into it because I want to keep that close to me. But it stuck with me afterward. You see performances as an actor and as a fan, you look at Heath Ledger’s performance in say, ‘The Dark Knight’ and it’s like, ‘Wow’. I want to try to get something like that. You want Michael Fassbender’s Magneto.
“Just trying to find my place amongst those roles and strive for that, even if I don’t make it.”
The role was a challenge for Michael because the character is so different to who he really is.
He said: “For me, this is a chance for me to go furthest away from who I am. As far as just the darkness of the guy, because the guy was really dark, even though you may empathize with him and understand his point of view. I think the greatest villains are the ones where you can see their point of view.”
The actor had a “lot of fun” working with Chadwick Boseman, who plays the titular character, and thinks his co-star is “very talented”.
He told Empire magazine: “Chadwick is a very talented dude. He’s lived with this character for a movie already. He had to mentally establish who this guy is and he has that sense of confidence and understanding when he comes on set. There’s definitely an understanding of where we’re both coming from. Of finding out what our characters want and need.
“We had a lot of fun on set. There’s a lot of physical moments and action sequences throughout this film that caused us to really challenge ourselves and fall deeper into character.”
