Michael B. Jordan is tired of dying onscreen—specifically, he’s tired of watching his mother watch him die onscreen. According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Drama Actor Roundtable discussion, it isn’t just his mom who plays a huge part in Jordan’s decisions as an actor, it's also the country’s political climate, as well.
HBO’s adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel about government oppression and eradication of civil liberties, Fahrenheit 451, was a project Jordan initially turned down. It fulfilled two negative pre-requisites for the actor, essentially: dying onscreen (again), and portraying the unpopular character of government authority.
“I wasn’t interested in playing an authoritative figure,” he said. “With what’s going on in the world with police and my community, being a black man, I didn’t want to play somebody who's an oppressor. I just didn’t want that in my head. It’s just something that I wasn’t interested in doing.” Naturally, Jordan being a professional actor, after all, changed his mind once he discussed the role and the film’s themes with the director, Ramin Bahrani. He then realized the project was too substantial to pass up. That doesn’t mean it was easy, however.
“Every time I watched her watch me die onscreen, it tore me up,” he said. “She would just weep—she’s very emotional, my mom, and I just wanted to play a role so she could see me win.” Unfortunately, Jordan’s mom is going to have to just skip this one—it doesn’t end well, in other words. “Being a leading man, I didn’t want audiences to keep seeing me die in roles,” he said. “I wanted to survive through the third act, you know? I couldn’t keep playing that role.”
Michael B. Jordan has shown one of the most impressive growth periods we’ve ever seen. From his time as a child actor on HBO’s The Wire, to Friday Night Lights, Chronicle, Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther, he’s become a bankable professional Hollywood entity. Notice, however, that he dies in a few of the above projects. Hopefully, he’ll find a happy medium sometime soon, so his mom can watch her son’s movies in peace and he can start winning more.
