- Michael B. Jordan plays American lawyer Bryan Stevenson in “Just Mercy,” which also stars Jamie Foxx as wrongly-condemned death row prisoner Walter McMillan.
- Insider attended a Q&A in London hosted by BBC Radio 1 Extra on Monday with Stevenson, Jordan, and Foxx.
- Stevenson was discussing Jordan’s dedication to authenticity but said he wouldn’t have minded Jordan keeping his “Black Panther” body when playing him.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
In a Q&A hosted by BBC Radio 1 Extra, lawyer Bryan Stevenson discussed Michael B. Jordan’s commitment to accuracy when the actor portrayed him in “Just Mercy.”
“He was very committed to being authentic, to being true. We used some of the actual transcripts in the script for the film,” said Stevenson.
However, Stevenson stated that he didn’t mind so much about remaining as true-to-life as possible in one particular aspect of Jordan’s portrayal.
"I said to him: 'The one area where we don't have to be authentic is that you don't have to lose that 'Black Panther,' 'Creed' body when you play me. You can keep that. I don't have a problem with that," joked Stevenson.
As Erik Killmonger in "Black Panther," Jordan added 15 pounds of muscle via a gruelling training regime with celebrity trainer Corey Calliet, who also helped Jordan get in shape for "Creed" and "Creed II."
During pre-production for "Black Panther," the two worked out six days a week and Jordan ate six meals a day to secure the incredible physique he displays in Marvel's billion-dollar hit.
Stevenson also said that while people don't truly appreciate how talented Jordan is, he was most struck by how nice he was.
"The thing that blew me away wasn't how skilled of an actor he was, it was how genuinely nice he is," said Stevenson.
"He is a good human being. This is a really solid human being. And he doesn't have the pretence and the ego that I expected. It's been a real honour."
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