After winning Best Actor at the Oscars last year and spending a lot of his time after that directing his remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, Michael B. Jordan is in some rarefied Hollywood air these days. The film, which will hit the 2027 movie schedule on March 5, has a big budget and big expectations (including from me). Jordan knows that with big budgets comes big responsibilities, especially as a Black filmmaker.
Jordan was interviewed recently at CultureCon, and he talked about that responsibility, saying (via People):
You got to have boundaries. You got to have things that you’re going to stand 10 toes down on no matter what. And I’ve been blessed in a situation that I’ve developed a weight to stand on those as a responsibility that you have as a filmmaker to our community. Because there’s not a lot of us that are in the position that we have, that we’re blessed to be able to have these huge budgets and to get to make movies on the scale and to have just a big swing as us.
Jordan also knows he can’t be complacent and strives to make sure he’s presenting himself and his movies in a way that will always be seen positively. He knows he’s become a role model, and he takes that seriously, adding:
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We have to portray the right image, because representation is so important. And, if we start compromising ourselves onscreen, behind the camera, what is that signaling to the next generation and next group of people who are going to be put in the same situation? So, in order to get better, we got to grow and evolve. I want the next generation to be better than me. I want the next actor, the next director, the next human, to be better than whatever I end up doing in this life.
It’s very affirming stuff, and hardly surprising coming from an actor and director as thoughtful as Jordan is. He’s a guy who got his big break on TV in one of the most acclaimed shows of all time, The Wire, and has continued to crush it in every role his had, both in front of the camera in movies like Sinners, Fruitvale Station, and Black Panther, and behind it with Creed III and now The Thomas Crown Affair.
I, for one, am really excited about Thomas Crown. I’m a huge fan of the original version starring Steve McQueen from 1968 and an even bigger fan of the 1999 remake starring Pierce Brosnan in the title role. The movie’s first trailer definitely has a vibe much closer to the latter, and for that, I’m completely stoked. I think it’s the perfect role for an actor like Jordan at this point in his career, and I love how seriously he’s taken both the movie and his larger role in Hollywood. It only has me more excited for March to get here!
