Arts & Entertainment
Celebrity Interview: Michael B. Jordan of “Fruitvale Station”
B
orn in Santa Ana, Calif., on
February 9, 1987, Michael
B. Jordan is one of Holly-
wood’s brightest young actors. In
2012, he starred in 20th Century
Fox’s box office hit Chronicle, a
supernatural thriller that follows
three Portland teens as they devel-
op incredible powers after
exposure to a mysterious sub-
stance. He also had a supporting
role in George Lucas’ film “Red
Tails” a World War II saga recounting the
story of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen.
Michael recently completed shooting
“Are We Officially Dating?” opposite Zac
Efron, Imogen Poots and Miles Teller.
Before embarking on his film career, he was
best known for his work in two of the most
significant television dramas of the past
decade.
First, he received critical acclaim for his
portrayal of the hard-shelled, soft-hearted,
young urbanite Wallace in the HBO hit dra-
matic series The Wire. He then went on to
star as quarterback Vince Howard on the
NBC’s Emmy-winning Friday Night Lights.
He also portrayed recovering alcoholic
Alex on the third season of the NBC series
Parenthood. Blessed with the opportunity to
begin a professional acting career early in
his life, Michael caught the
eye of Bill Cosby and was
cast in the recurring role of
Michael on the series Cosby
in 1999. Almost simultane-
ously, he appeared on the
HBO series The Sopranos
opposite the late James Gan-
dolfini.
In 2001, he was selected
from hundreds of hopefuls to
play Jamal in the feature film
Hardball starring Keanu
Reeves. A couple years later,
he became the youngest
African-American actor contracted with
ABC’s daytime drama series All My Chil-
dren where he played Reggie, Susan Lucci’s
character’s adopted son.
Michael later moved to Los Angeles
where he soon landed a lead in the inde-
pendent film Blackout, co-starring Melvin
Van Peebles, Jeffrey Wright, and Zoe Sal-
dana. In the fall of 2007, he was cast in the
faith-based feature film Pastor Brown.
He has enjoyed guest appearances on CSI,
Cold Case, Lie
To Me, Without
C ELEBRITY a Trace, and Law
I NTERVIEW & Order, and
g a r n e r e d
NAACP Image
by Kam
Award Nomina-
Williams
tions
for
Outstanding
Male Actor in a
Television Day-
time
Drama
Series in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Here, he
talks about starring as the late Oscar Grant
in Fruitvale Station, a critically-acclaimed
picture which has wowed audiences at both
the Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals
earlier this year. The movie recounts the
shooting of the 22 year-old Grant in the
back by a police officer on a train station
platform on New Year’s Day 2009.
Kam Williams: Hi Michael, thanks for
the interview.
Michael B. Jordan: What’s up, buddy?
Thank you for taking the time.
KW: That’s quite a powerful performance
you delivered as Oscar.
MBJ: Thanks so much, Kam.
KW: What interested you
in Fruitvale Station?
MBJ: Honestly, I remem-
ber hearing about the
incident when it happened,
and feeling very angry,
upset and frustrated about
not being able to do any-
thing about it. I felt very
helpless. I was coming off a
project at the time, and I
really wanted to do an inde-
pendent film that was more
of an intimate, character-
driven piece. And it just so
happened that what I want-
ed to do, Ryan’s vision
[director Ryan Coogler] and
the timing of his project
worked out in my favor,
man. All of the pieces
seemed to fall right into
place.
Michael B. Jordan and Ariana Neal in ‘Fruitvale
Station’
like anybody else. That was about it. They
really trusted Ryan’s vision and what he
wanted to do.
KW: Did you feel any pressure to deliver
a great performance given that it’s the
biopic of a person who has passed away and
who left behind family, including a young
daughter who barely got to know him?
MBJ: Of course, and I put a lot of that
pressure on myself. I knew that
Oscar’s daughter was going to
see this film someday, and that
was the only pressure I needed to
do her father justice. But I felt a
huge responsibility not only to
his family, but to the whole Bay
community, since the story is so
important to them, too.
KW: Did you identify with this character
at all, given how often young black males
are subjected to profile stops and police bru-
tality?
MBJ: Yeah, I’m from Newark, NJ, so I’ve
been in that sort of situation before. I could
relate, since I used to catch the train back
and forth between Newark and Manhattan
all the time. You’d see transit cops interact-
ing with intoxicated passengers during the
holiday season in response to distress calls.
It could just as easily have been me, or
somebody else with a group of friends
going to the city who might have gotten a
little rowdy. Oscar was a product of his
community. The problem is that people
from outside of that community can be
quick to judge us based on the way we look,
talk and dress.
‘I knew that Oscar’s daughter was
going to see this film someday, and
that was the only pressure I needed
to do her father justice’
KW: Congratulations on this picture’s
winning at Sundance in January and then
again at Cannes in June. Did you attend
both film festivals?
MBJ: Yes sir, I did.
KW: Where did it get the longer standing
ovation?
MBJ: At Cannes. It went on for about 7 or
8 minutes. It was overwhelming. I got chills
all over. It was very intense.
KW: Did you meet with his
mother or any of Oscar’s friends
and family members in prepar-
ing for this role?
MBJ: Yes, I spent time with
his mother, his daughter, his girlfriend,
Sophina, and his best friends. So, I got a
chance to get to know Oscar a little bit bet-
ter and to understand each of their
relationships with him. It was very benefi-
cial to the film.
KW: How was it being directed by Ryan
Coogler?
MBJ: He’s an incredible director,
extremely talented and a natural born
leader. And he was the ideal coach for me,
because we’re so close in age. We speak the
same language, being from the same gener-
KW: Is there anything the family wanted
people to know about Oscar?
MBJ: That he was a person, a flawed
human being who made some mistakes just
See JORDAN page 12
Sausages
Blue
continued from page 6
3/4
pound
pre-cooked
smoked sausage links: use
chicken, turkey, Polish or kiel-
basa sausage
1
can (15 ounces) Pota-
to Salad
1/4
teaspoon
cracked
black pepper
Chopped
parsley,
optional
Heat oil in large skillet over
medium heat until hot. Add
onion and bell pepper. Cook
and stir 1 minute. Add
sausages; continue cooking 5
minutes until browned and
heated through, turning occa-
sionally. Remove sausages
from skillet.
Add potato salad and black
pepper to skillet. Stir to com-
bine with onion mixture. Return sausages to skillet. Cook 2 to 3 minutes to heat through.
Sprinkle with parsley if desired
it well. That’s called pimping the system.
Use it to your advantage.”
Besides refusing to compromise her
vision, she gives three basic pieces of
advice. Don’t ask anyone for help twice
because there are too many opportunities
and entities that want to help you to con-
tinue knocking on doors that don’t. Also,
get paid for everything and read.
“In order to use the system to your
advantage, you’ve got to know it,” says
Blue. “In order to know it, you’ve got to
read. The library is your best friend.
Everything you need to know is in books.
“I’m a learning person and I’m the type
of person, when I see a new piece of infor-
mation, I try to think of all the ways I can
exploit that new piece of information.
“If you are making art just for the sake
of making art and your friends and family
love it and you like doing shows, then do
that. But if you want to make money, you
have to treat it like a business.”
For more information on Blue, go to her
website Bluefolktronica.com and check
out her blog.
PHOTO BY RAQUITA HENDERSON AT PINXIT PHOTOGRAPHY
continued from page 8
Blue
June 26, 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 9