Michael B. Jordan: Lauren London Is "One Of The Strongest Women I Know'

Source: Nadja Klier Courtesy of Amazon Studios / EPK.TV

Michael B. Jordan is eating french fries during our interview. We’re on the phone, but I can hear the crunch and instinctively ask if he’s enjoying the remainder of his lunch during our quick chat. To my surprise, he reveals he is snacking on the delightful and unhealthy food. “Michael B. Jordan eats french fries?” I joke. “Cut it out,” he replies. So yes, despite having the perfect body, Michael B. Jordan enjoys guilty pleasures like fried food.

Jordan stars as the revenge-driven operative John Kelly in the action-packed Tom Clancy flick, Without Remorse, hitting Prime Video on April 30. To get into character, Jordan began crafting the image for Kelly in his head, then trained his body for the physical and leaned-in to longtime friend and co-star Lauren London, who helped him channel the emotional aspect of the role.

“When it comes to physique, I’m usually in and out of roles, I want to look different for each one. I don’t want to have the same physique for each role I play — to help me focus in and lock in on the character. Bryan Stevenson doesn’t look like Adonis Creed and Adonis doesn’t look like Erik Killmonger. When I do these roles I like to change what I’m doing.”

In Without Remorse, Kelly and his pregnant wife (Lauren London) are on the verge of building their fairy tale family until a secret military mission changes their lives forever. Jordan, longtime friend of London, reached out to her even though he wasn’t sure she interested in acting again.

“She’s been away for a while and she’s one of the strongest women I know and been through so much. So, I had a crazy idea one night and was like, ‘Would you want to come do this?’ And then sent her the script and she thought she could bring something to the table. And she had something to offer and felt like it would be good for her. As artists, I think we express ourselves, and it’s therapeutic sometimes to get on set and to be able to do the things that we do. So in this particular situation, she helped me out so much when it comes to talking about grief. And we talked about the mind state of where Kelly would be at on certain things and just seeing a strong black woman in that way and be able to support me the way she did, I thought was extremely incredible.”

“So basically, you put a Black woman on?!” I said and he chuckled a bit.

“I mean, that’s why you do what I do in the sense of getting to a position to create opportunities for other talented people who may not have a shot at that,” Jordan added. “And, she’s dope so it wasn’t like a favor or anything like that…She held her own…So it made sense.”

London wasn’t the only leading lady staring in the film. Jodie Smith-Turner played bad a** commander Karen Greer, who saved her co-star Kelly’s life on multiple occasions.

“I thought it was incredible. I think it was much needed to see that representation. Black women are the foundation and are the support system of us in general. So to be able to have that in a movie – to see it, I think was pretty cool. Being able to do those action scenes and to see her operate between both spaces in the field, carrying a gun, and also dressed in her blues and in the boardroom with generals and their commanding officers, I thought it was incredibly strong to see.”

When he isn’t bulking up or slimming down for a role, he’s chilling in clothes that allow him to relax.

“I’m constantly turning myself into someone else. I go to work and I put on somebodies clothes, I’m in somebody else’s physique. When I get a chance to relax and be on my own schedule and in my own space, I like to be comfortable — I’m a sweats, t-shirt, jeans, hoodie guy at my core.” But don’t get it twisted, after debuting a few lewks on the ‘gram while promoting Without Mercy and a collaboration deal with fashion brand Coach, he admits to dibbling and dabbling in fashion.

As for social media, Jordan has no problems setting his phone aside. “I try to not pay attention. There’s some things that sneak through — I’m human. For the most part, I don’t pay attention to a lot of that stuff.”

Stream Without Remorse on Amazon April 30.

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