Vanity Fair: How are you different from a year ago?

Michael B. Jordan: My appreciation of time has changed. I’ve matured in a way, being very unapologetically who I am, and being really, truly comfortable in my own skin.

I think most people look at you and assume you’ve been comfortable in your skin a long time.

I think that’s the perception, but we’re in an industry where sometimes my success is dependent on people’s opinions of who I am—and whether or not they like me or things that I represent. Sometimes in the past, that might have had me a little unsettled. I’m not so cautious of the consequences this year. I’ve always felt comfortable using my platform for change, [but] I think this year really set the table for me to do it in a more visible way to the masses. How can I amplify, and use the attention in a way that can hold people and bigger systems accountable?

What made you the angriest in 2020?

The string of police brutality and the killings that took place over the course of this year. It made me extremely upset and angry, and the way in which they were handled and were resolved—if that’s even the fucking word to use to describe it—made me pretty angry this year. It was definitely like an “enough is enough” type of a moment.

What made you cry hardest this year?

Losing Chadwick. Our relationship was a very personal one and had a lot of great moments—some that I couldn’t fully appreciate and fully understand until now. I wish I had more time to have our relationship evolve, and grow, and become closer and stronger. We got a concentrated dose of Chadwick. He did more in his 43 years of life than most people have done in a lifetime. And he was here for the time he was supposed to be here, and he had his impact, and his legacy. That was clear with the abundance of love that he has gotten from people all over the world. There are generations of kids coming up that look to him. It’s incredible. And losing him was…Yeah, man, it hurt. It hurt a lot. That’s probably what made me cry the most this year.

I’m very sorry for your loss.

Appreciate that, man. He’s an incredible person. His family and his wife are so strong. The people that he had around him are truly special people. To keep something like this quiet for so long—our town is nearly impossible to do something like that in. It speaks to the type of person he was, to work as hard as he did into his last moments. It’s truly incredible.

You’ve talked about your friendship with Denzel Washington, and he’s directing you now in Journal for Jordan. That will be the first time you two have come together professionally.

Yeah, yeah. He’s a mentor of mine, he’s the GOAT, he’s the guy. It was a no-brainer for me.

How did you guys meet? What’s that first interaction like between Michael B. and the GOAT?

I mean, he probably wouldn’t remember me as a kid, but I met him in passing when I was maybe 17. He had no reason to know who I was or anything like that, but I shook his hand and I was just like, “Oh shit. That was great, right?” We first sat down for real after Fruitvale Station.

So this role has really been percolating, because that was seven years ago.

Exactly. I wanted to have more life experiences, so that I can actually breathe life into this character. First time I met Denzel, it was like meeting one of my uncles, you know what I mean? Or like a father figure. He’s got tons of stories. He’s lived the life that people only dream to have. Old-school. Super wise. He cracks his jokes, he’s funny—more than I think people would expect.

As one of the only male movie stars left under 40—my words, not yours—what do you think about the future of the movie theater?

I’m a man of two fucking minds. It’s crazy because I love movie theaters. I love theater. And I also understand that great material can live anywhere. It’s really about the audience and how they want to consume it, and that’s not really for me to decide. I want to create diverse content that lives in both spaces. Nothing stays the same forever. That’s not realistic. I just think we have to find out what the smart way is to have both.

So it sounds like you feel like you’ll be bringing your kids to a movie theater someday.

Yes. If not, we’re going to have a theater in my crib because I love the movie-theater experience. But then I also love sitting at home and being able to watch things like when I have time to watch it. Like, me going to a movie theater—sometimes it’s tough. It’s an escapade: “We’re going on a journey today, all right? We don’t know how it’s going to go.”

Interview by Britt Hennemuth. It has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Grooming by Tasha Reiko Brown; Barber, Barber Jove. Clothing by Hermès; boots by Prada; earrings by Tiffany & Co.; hair products by HUE for Every Man; grooming products by Boy de CHANEL. Set Design by Gille Mills; Photography Assistance by Moses Berkson; Digital Tech Pamela Grant; Film Assistance by Dominic Haydn Rawl; AC/Media Manager Lili Soto; Lighting Assistants Phil Blair, Michael Kinsey; On Set Sittings Editor Simon Robins; Tailor Olena Survilo (Michael B. Jordan), Karina Malkhasyan (All Others); Produced on Location by PRODn.

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