-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy-nominated actor
you know from his work in "Lovecraft Country,"
"The Harder They Fall,"
and Marvel's "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,"
which is in theaters now.
He also stars in "Creed III,"
which opens in theaters and IMAX March 3rd.
Let's take a look.
-I was the best, though.
-Yeah, you were.
-I was, bro.
But I never got a chance to prove that.
Look, all I'm saying, bro...
if Apollo Creed could take a chance on some underdog...
...why can't you?
-Please welcome back to the show Jonathan Majors, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
I mean, I --
I don't usually go out of my way to say this.
I am digging your outfit a great deal.
-Whoa! -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Thank you!
It feels like --
I feel like this is, like, a '70s talk show right now.
-Yeah, yeah. -Good old-school vibe.
-We've got our tea.
-We've got our tea. -Yeah.
-And now, I know you --
This is rare for a guest to bring out their own cup.
But this is -- I've heard you talk about this,
this is inspired by something your mother told you?
-Yes, don't let nobody else fill you up, boy.
-Uh-huh. -That works many ways,
doesn't it?
[ Laughter ]
But she was talking about self-esteem and respect
and, you know, what this world can do to you.
You know, someone can big you up,
and people can tear you down.
But the cup is a metaphor of, you know,
you can only do that yourself.
-You can only fill up your own cup.
It's a good thing for all of us to remember.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Another thing to remember
is to not chew gum on public television.
[ Laughter ]
-Wait, here.
There you go. You can -- I would --
-You sure? -Yeah, it's my cup.
you can go for it. Do it.
There you go.
We take care of our guests here.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-We're officially brothers now.
-Yeah, we're officially brothers.
We're cup brothers. -Cup brothers.
[ Laughter ] This is getting weird.
-Doesn't sound right.
I thought it before I said it,
and I didn't realize how it would sound.
[ Laughter ]
-Perhaps we play on the same baseball team.
-Yeah, that's true. [ Laughter ]
We played on the same baseball team that was short on gear.
[ Laughter ]
And you -- you would bat first,
and then depending whether or not you were on base,
we'd go to the back -- not important, yeah.
Hey, so last time we talked, it was on Zoom.
You were in London working on "Ant-Man," now it's out.
-Now it's out. -It must be so nice when you,
especially when you work on one of those Marvel movies
where people know what you're doing,
can't tell them any of the details.
-Right. -Is it rewarding
that people can now experience it?
-There was a Kang, it was in the bag, now it's out of the bag.
-It's out of the bag. -The Kang is out of the bag.
-Kang's out of the bag. -Yeah, so --
[ Cheers and applause ]
Yeah, it feels really good.
You know what I mean? It's a diary.
It's seven months of your life and prep.
And people saying, "What you doing?"
Saying, "Oh, nothing, bro."
[ Laughter ] You know?
"What you doing in London?"
"Hmm, hanging out," you know?
But, yeah, now it's out, in the world, it's in cinemas,
it's doing great at the box office.
-That's very exciting. -I'm happy, yeah.
-And now, you're actually in a film that has a chance
to maybe knock your other movie out of the number-one slot.
And this is, you know -- this is,
you know, the "Rocky" cinematic universe.
And these movies, I think there's a lot of responsibility
to be in them because they are so inspirational.
-Yeah. -And have been
from the very first one. -Yeah.
-Were you someone that, when you saw him as a kid,
you were inspired by those movies?
-Extremely. -Yeah.
-"Rocky I" is just a piece of art.
-It really is. It's a perfect movie.
-It's just incredible. And the story, you know,
Sly and how he got it made.
Now in adulthood I go, "Wow, that's incredible."
The "Creed" films, "Creed I," I think --
I was living in New York City?
Yeah. Between schools.
And I joined Equinox...
[ Light laughter ] Yeah.
...but was not working.
Was not -- Was not an actor.
You know, I was trying to get to grad school.
So, I could not afford Equinox. -Yeah.
-So, that's okay.
And then "Creed II" was extremely inspiring.
Brought a bunch of guys over to watch it.
You know, I was in grad school at the time.
Yeah, but that was -- those, um...
the montages, that's the -- that's the kicker.
-Yeah. Those montages -- and I think there's --
any thing you're about to take on in your life,
you go back and watch any "Rocky" montage,
you're more prepared. -You're ready. You're ready.
You're ready. That was really the pressure for the film.
-And Michael B. Jordan, true story,
called you personally to ask you to do this, yes?
-Hit me on the iPhone. -Yeah?
-Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
-And did you answer right away?
Did you have his number? Did you know who it was?
-I did not have his number right away.
He hit my manager and friend, she said, "Hey,
Michael B. Jordan wants your phone number."
I said, "Oh, no."
[ Laughter ]
-Are you someone who usually gets in trouble?
-Always. That's exactly it! You nailed it!
Always in trouble.
'Cause I was like, if anybody wants to call me,
I've done something. -Right.
-So, I'm thinking, "Okay, who did I --
No, I'm okay, I'm okay." -Yeah.
-But, yeah, he called me.
20 -- 20 minutes into it I'm nodding my head, you know.
It's a boxing match. The pitch.
You know, he's saying things.
I'm going, "Hm, hm, hm, that sounds good.
Ow, take that," you know? -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-And at the end of it, after maybe 45 minutes, we hung up.
20 minutes later, I called him back.
I said, "Hey, man, let's roll, let's do it."
-That's fantastic. -Yeah. Yeah.
And now, of course, this is the kind of role,
and again, you've been in series movies
where, you know, there's a physical fitness element to it.
I've read how seriously you took it.
But there has to be -- I mean, I've seen pictures.
The only way you can take it is seriously
if the goal is to look like that at the end.
-Yeah, you must. -Yeah.
-You must. I mean --
-You can't show up on the first day and be like,
"You guys have CGI, right? You're gonna...?"
[ Laughter ] -That's the other franchise.
-Yeah, yeah, exactly. -That's the other franchise.
Yeah, yeah. This is a --
I mean, that's like -- that's, like, the thing.
You never know -- I mean, you're an entertainer.
You never know what it is that's going to come across your desk.
-Yeah, I know it's not going to be
"Do you want to be in our boxing movie?"
[ Laughter ]
-But it might be the -- -Well, Michael B. Jordan
called me, and I was like, "What?"
And he goes, "Do you have Jonathan Majors' phone number?"
And I was like --
[ Laughter and applause ]
But, yeah, you never know. -Yeah, you never know.
And I mean -- Sly Stallone,
Sylvester Stallone, you know, Michael B. Jordan, you know,
all the folks that have done these films,
that montage is everything. -Yeah.
-You know, it's everything. So yeah, you got tip-top shape.
I was like a year -- a year and a half,
year and a half of training, you know.
-Wow. -Up until that day.
-Did you -- After that day, did you have --
did you give yourself a cheat day?
Was there any enjoyment? -No, I -- Yes, it was --
I mean, getting up those ropes was a lot of fun.
-Right. -Especially once you
got up there. -Yeah.
-But, no, right after that, I shot this other film
called "Magazine Dreams."
[ Cheers and applause ]
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
And that's a -- that's a body builder,
and that's whole different level of --
-When are you going to play somebody who's just, like,
letting himself go?
[ Laughter ]
-I don't know.
[ Laughter ] -Give it a few years.
Yeah, later in your career, maybe later.
-Yes, soon. Soon I hope, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-I got a lot more questions for you.
We'll be right back with more from Jonathan Majors, everybody!