Michael B. Jordan Took Accessibility And Inclusion Very Seriously When Making Creed III
"Creed III" is scheduled to premiere on March 3, 2023 in theaters, serving as the latest chapter in the "Rocky" sequel series kicked off by "Creed" in 2015. Not only is Michael B. Jordan reprising his titular role as Donnie Creed — son of Carl Weathers' iconic "Rocky" character Apollo Creed — but "Creed III" will mark a milestone in Jordan's career as his directorial debut.
Jonathan Majors described the story of "Creed III" as intimate, suggesting that his character and Jordan's Donnie will have some sort of personal stakes in their eventual climactic fight against one another. Fans got their first look at this conflict when MGM Pictures premiered a trailer for "Creed III" on October 18. At its opening, Donnie reflects on key moments in his life with which fans of the first two films should be well familiar, before he encounters Majors' Damian Anderson for the first time in adulthood. After catching up, the two men start training alongside one another before Damian makes a sharp heel turn, hence their eventual fight.
Meanwhile, Donnie's family appears to support him throughout his conflict with Damian. In an interview published in conjunction with the trailer's release, Jordan spoke about how he portrayed Donnie's family, and his approach to incorporating a particular underrepresented demographic into the film.
Michael B. Jordan wants to do his hearing impaired characters justice
On the same date that MGM premiered its first "Creed III" trailer, Collider published an interview with Michael B. Jordan about his work on the film as its director and star. At one point in their discussion, interviewer Christina Radish asked Jordan about the importance of inclusion and accessibility to him as the movie's creative lead. In response, Jordan emphasized how Donnie's partner Bianca (Tessa Thompson) experiences hearing loss starting in the first "Creed" film, while this latest sequel introduces their daughter, who is deaf.
"It's a community of people that doesn't really get representation as much as they should, and we used this as opportunity to do that. Mila Davis-Kent is amazing. She's deaf and learning ASL, and normalizing it was a really big deal for us," Jordan said, referring to the actor who portrays their daughter. "We had incredible interpreters and resources that we leaned on, to make sure we got it right. It was something that we took very seriously on this movie."
Around the time "Creed II" premiered, author Destiny Lopez described in a Teen Vogue article how Bianca's hearing loss reflected her own experience and served as positive motivation in her personal life. Jordan, then, seems to have put time and energy into ensuring not just that Bianca's storyline continues, but that the film approaches their daughter's deafness with the same tact and sensitivity.