Creed III Star Tessa Thompson Describes Being Directed by Michael B. Jordan

Creed III was released in theaters this weekend, and it sees the return of Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed as well as Tessa Thompson as his wife, Bianca Taylor. In addition to returning to perform in the threequel, the new movie also marks the directorial debut of Jordan. Jordan has talked a lot about how he was influenced by anime, and some of the cast has opened up about working under his direction. Recently, Thompson spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about being directed by her friend and longtime screen partner.  

“Well, to be honest, he didn’t offer me a note like any director would,” Thompson explained. “He never directed me like that. It was always a conversation about how I felt and how we were feeling. It truly felt very unique in that way. He would’ve been welcomed to, but that wasn’t the dynamic.” 

Thompson added, “I have said this a lot on this run, but what really impressed me was how great he was with the crew. It didn’t surprise me because he’s a lovely human and is so well liked on set, but he has the kind of energy that lightens a set and makes everybody feel good. But you would never really know that he was also balancing performing, directing and the onslaught of decisions and questions that he had to answer. But I never observed him be short with anybody. He maintained a spirit of play and joy.” 

She continued, “But because we are so close in our way and have worked together for so long, I could tell when he was stressed in a moment. I would look at him and he would just give me a face. I would just look at him and think, “Oh, he’s having a moment. ” And he then would just say to me, “Yeah.” And I would be like, “All right, take a breath.” And he’d take a breath. So that would be a moment where he would let the air out, but never in a frustrated way. It was just in a, “OK, you see me, you know me. This is a moment.” And I found that so deeply impressive. I also felt really lucky to get to be that kind of support. He was just so tremendous with the crew and everyone.”

Today, Thompson took to Instagram to celebrate her time working with Jordan. “Here’s to almost a decade of making this face (and films) together! Congrats on a stellar opening weekend of @creedmovie, @michaelbjordan! Beyond proud of uuu. If you haven’t seen it yet… do! 👅,” she wrote. You can view the post below:

Last year, Thompson spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and revealed she had more room to improvise with Jordan at the helm. 

“In the past, it’s been a lot of work to make sure that she has agency and an arc in the context of these sports films, essentially,” Thompson explained. “I wanted to make sure that she’s not just moving the plot forward, and that she actually has something interesting to do. And I typically do that work with the writers … but this time around, I could do that work more actively with Mike. I also had a lot more freedom to improvise on the day than the past ones.”

Creed III is now playing in theaters.