[CHEERS]
JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, yeah. MICHAEL B. JORDAN: It's a nice--
[CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
JIMMY KIMMEL: Can I tell you something?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: What's up?
JIMMY KIMMEL: So all week, I say, and you know,
coming up on Thursday, Michael B. Jordan will be here.
And every time I've said it, all the women in the audience,
each night, have s--
[CHEERS]
They did that, yeah.
They did that.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: That's pretty cool.
[LAUGHS]
JIMMY KIMMEL: I think you might be
the front runner for sexiest man alive this year.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: You know, eh, man.
[CHEERS]
Somebody write in somebody.
I love this.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah, well, they love you.
I mean, they really do.
It's good to see you.
This must be an exciting time for you,
because not only are you the star of this movie,
you're a producer of the movie. MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Yeah.
JIMMY KIMMEL: And so you really put this movie together,
and it opens everywhere tomorrow.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Everywhere tomorrow, man.
I'm really excited about it.
I mean, I found out about the story
about five years ago about Bryan Stevenson,
and I was a little embarrassed that I didn't
know that much about him.
So I got a chance to listen to his Ted talk and hear him speak
and realized all the important work that he was doing.
And it was-- you know, I was shocked that he
wasn't a household name, so--
JIMMY KIMMEL: Well, tell everybody a little bit
about him because I think most people
don't know Bryan Stevenson.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Well, Bryan Stevenson
is a defense attorney.
He set up his office as EJI, which is the Equal
Justice Initiative, and he--
down in Montgomery, Alabama.
And he pretty much dedicated his entire life to equal justice
and fighting the criminal justice system.
Basically he gets exonerated-- he exonerates wrongfully
convicted felons that are on--
people that are on death row.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah, well--
yeah, they're technically felons, but not.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: They're technically felons,
but they've been wrongfully convicted.
And he's dedicated the life to getting them off of death row.
And I had the honor of being able to play him.
Jamie Foxx plays Walter McMillan,
that the movie's based around.
And yeah, I felt there was a--
I don't know, it's my responsibility
to kind of take on this role.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Did you feel like it
really spoke to you when you heard his story
and heard about it?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Yeah, I mean, I felt like-- well, listen,
this thing happened 30-some-odd years ago,
but it feels like it could've happened yesterday.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Have you ever played a living person before?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: A living person before?
No.
JIMMY KIMMEL: So that's, like, you must be nervous
when you show them the movie, him the movie the first time?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Well, yeah. I mean, I've had the--
I played Oscar Grant in "Fruitvale Station."
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah, but--
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: But you know, he was tragically murdered.
But I got a chance to get to know him through the people
that knew him the best.
I had a chance to watch the movie
with his mom for the first time, and his family members.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Right.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: And that was--
that was pretty nerve-racking.
JIMMY KIMMEL: That's heavy, yeah.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: In this situation,
being able to play Brian, you know, he's there.
He's a resource. I can call him.
I can ask him for help if I get-- you
know, if I get stuck anywhere. JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Or if I need to,
you know, look to him for motivation for things.
But then, also, he can call me and tell
me when I'm messing up, too. JIMMY KIMMEL: Did he do that?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: No, he didn't.
JIMMY KIMMEL: OK, good.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: He was actually--
he was really supportive.
He was actually excited that I played him.
[INAUDIBLE] JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah, I'm sure.
I mean, women scream when they see you.
Why wouldn't he be excited about that?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: He wanted me to keep the Creed body,
but, you know-- JIMMY KIMMEL: [LAUGHS]
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I kept the arms.
I kept the arms.
JIMMY KIMMEL: You've been holding screenings--
special screenings-- this week.
And one of them was hosted by Kobe Bryant.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Kobe Bryant, yeah.
JIMMY KIMMEL: How did that happen?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: No, it was incredible.
I think Warner Brothers had reached out to him.
He's a-- you know, he's a big advocate for, you know,
criminal justice and just equal rights in general.
So he came on board.
You know, he agreed to host a couple of screenings
down in Baldwin Hills.
And it was-- it was amazing. All my friends came up.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Did you know him beforehand?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Yeah, I got a chance--
I did a Apple commercial with him a few years back--
JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, OK.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: --where I played the young Kobe.
And that was pretty cool and interesting.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: But he's the GOAT.
You know, he's one of the greatest of all time.
So to be able to kind of talk to him
and, like, spit basketball and stuff
like that was pretty cool.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Are you a Lakers fan?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I'm a Knicks fan.
JIMMY KIMMEL: A Knicks fan? OK.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Pray for me. Pray for me.
JIMMY KIMMEL: So you don't--
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Pray for me, yes, pray for me.
It's been tough.
JIMMY KIMMEL: You've never tasted any kind of success,
really, ever in your whole life as a fan, have you?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: No, it's been rough.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: But I'm a LeBron fan.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, you're a LeBron fan?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I'm a LeBron fan.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Do you know LeBron as well?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I do know LeBron.
JIMMY KIMMEL: You had a screening for the Lakers,
right? MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I did.
I had a screening for the Lakers.
But also, I had a chance to take about 20 incarcerated youth
down to the Lakers practice facility
and get a chance to have them talk to Ron Artest,
to Robert Horry, to the Lakers players.
They played five on five.
Some of the Lakers got a chance to coach 'em,
and stuff like that.
So it was really incredible to get them--
give 'em a chance, an opportunity
to get outside of jail and be around their idols,
people that they look up to, to kind of encourage them to kind
of go down this right path.
JIMMY KIMMEL: And then everyone sat down and watched the movie?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: They did.
They sat down and watched the movie at a different time.
But this-- I had an opportunity to do
the genius talk with the Lakers and stuff like that.
So it was really, really a cool experience.
JIMMY KIMMEL: I wonder how, when a basketball team watches
a movie, they situate everyone.
Because, like, you don't want Anthony Davis in the front.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: They have huge chairs.
JIMMY KIMMEL: I know, they do.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: But everything is like-- just,
like, just giant-sized. JIMMY KIMMEL: Oversized?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Everything's oversized.
The doorways, you're like, oh, wow.
OK, cool.
I guess JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard does have to, like,
come through here. So it's pretty cool.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Didn't you-- you just went back
to your high school recently, right?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I did, I did.
JIMMY KIMMEL: When you went back to the height
at your high school which is New Jersey you did
everything seem small to you?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: No. It didn't?
Oh, high school, I guess, that doesn't really happen.
JIMMY KIMMEL: No, no, no.
Yeah, I was probably the same height as I was in high school.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: [LAUGHS] JIMMY KIMMEL: Pretty sure.
But no, but it was cool to go back
and actually talk to the kids. You know, honestly, just--
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Did they freak out when you came?
JIMMY KIMMEL: They did. MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Yeah.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Of course, I had a photo shoot there first.
And they tried to keep it as quiet as possible.
But when you see, you know, people--
you know, the kids coming from the lunchroom
and peeking into the gym, and then, by the time,
you know, fifth period hit, it was just all-out mayhem.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I would think so.
JIMMY KIMMEL: So yeah, it was pretty crazy.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Did you see any of your old teachers?
Are any of them still there? JIMMY KIMMEL: I did.
A lot of them were still there.
A lot of them-- some of my old teachers--
well, one of my teachers is now the principal.
You know, the lunch ladies are still there, the security
guards, the janitors.
Like, it was pretty surreal to come
back and see all those faces, but it was a lot of love.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Did you play basketball in high school?
JIMMY KIMMEL: I did.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Did you play football in high school?
JIMMY KIMMEL: I did not. MICHAEL B. JORDAN: You did not?
JIMMY KIMMEL: I did not.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I was basketball, baseball, track.
I did everything except for football, actually.
JIMMY KIMMEL: You played high school football
on "Friday Night Lights."
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: That counts. As--
[APPLAUSE, CHEERS]
JIMMY KIMMEL: It was, like, a bigger audience.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: As a 20-year-old.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a 20-year-old playing high school
football.
JIMMY KIMMEL: That's the first time to play high school
football, when you hit 20.
You can really excel.
[LAUGHTER] Well, we're gonna take a break.
We're gonna come back, and we're gonna
see a clip from the new movie, "Just Mercy."
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: "Just Mercy."
JIMMY KIMMEL: Michael B. Jordan is here.
We'll be right back.
BRYAN STEVENSON: You can't keep an innocent man
in prison while you try to salvage your reputation.
MAN: This is about the people of this county who
have hired me to keep 'em safe.
BRYAN STEVENSON: And what people are
you talking about right now?
The ones from this neighborhood, or the ones
from the black community you took Johnny D. From?
You think they feel safe?
Your job isn't to defend a conviction, Tommy.
It's to achieve justice.
And as long as you keep fighting this, someone from your county
has literally gotten away with murder.
JIMMY KIMMEL: That is Michael B. Jordan of "Just Mercy,"
the critically-acclaimed performance
in the critically-acclaimed movie that you produced.
Now, Jamie Foxx is in this movie.
Brie Larson is in the movie.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Yes.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Did you personally recruit them to be in the film?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I--
in this case, I did.
I-- when I read the script-- and we've been developing it for
about, you know, four or five years or so, the only person
I kept mind was Jamie.
I was like, this guy, this is the vehicle for him.
You know, he's on my Mount Rushmore
of the greatest of all time.
And I think he's so-- he's so talented.
Like, this is an opportunity--
JIMMY KIMMEL: He might be the most talented person
I have ever met in my life. MICHAEL B. JORDAN: From--
from, he does everything. JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: You know, from singing,
to writing, to, you know, the stand-up comedian--
JIMMY KIMMEL: Math.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Drama, math, math-- great at math.
JIMMY KIMMEL: You name it, yeah. MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Swimming.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah. [LAUGHS]
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Tennis. He's great at tennis.
No, man, he's-- you know, he's an incredible person.
But I got a chance to give him a call
and was like, hey, man, I need you to do this.
And he said--
JIMMY KIMMEL: And he gave a very good performance.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Yes.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Very, like, a low-key, solid--
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: He's a chameleon.
He blends into wherever he needs to blend into.
JIMMY KIMMEL: So speaking of that--
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Mm-hmm?
JIMMY KIMMEL: So I've worked with Jamie a number of times.
And like, even when he's on this show, like, there is no--
there's not a moment in which he's not making fun,
where he's not, like, doing something to-- and even
during the commercials, he's out in the audience dancing,
and singing, and everybody's having a good time.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Yeah.
JIMMY KIMMEL: So in a movie like this which is, you know,
a serious film, is that the way he is?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: He is exactly like that.
JIMMY KIMMEL: He is?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I mean, literally,
we would have the most dramatic scenes ever
and then literally yell, cut.
He'll take a deep breath, and then he'll
be right out there with the extras
telling jokes or playing music.
He plays music a lot.
Like, he has theme music no matter where he goes.
It's incredible.
JIMMY KIMMEL: So even on this movie--
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: He-- but you know,
he did it in such a genius way.
Like, he would play songs to get us in the mood of-- like,
a really somber mood.
Like he would play, like, old-school
music to really get us into a--
like, a really, like, serious tone.
But then, when it was--
when he was ready to switch the tone
and we were getting out of it, he would play, like, you know,
some Marvin Gaye or, like, you know,
the Isley Brothers, or The Temptations,
or something like that.
JIMMY KIMMEL: So he was actually-- he was like--
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: He was curating the vibe, 24/7.
JIMMY KIMMEL: --warming things up, yeah.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: He was.
He was the perfect person for this-- for [INAUDIBLE]..
JIMMY KIMMEL: I see.
And here's the picture, the three of you guys together.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Mamba.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Do you think you're
Kobe's favorite Michael Jordan?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I think--
that's a great question.
I mean, yeah.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah, right?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. JIMMY KIMMEL: If he had to pick?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Yeah.
No, yeah, hands down, hands down.
[LAUGHTER]
JIMMY KIMMEL: So tomorrow's the big day?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Tomorrow is the big day, man.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Will you go around and check out screenings?
Will you pop into movie theaters to see how it's going?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I might pop into a theater or two.
I might recruit Jamie, you know what
I'm saying, to go pop around and surprise some theaters.
So you never know.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Do you have any particular locations in mind?
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I'm gonna throw out a couple.
I'm gonna throw out, like, ArcLight Hollywood.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Uh-huh.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: I'll throw out, you know,
maybe a Grove, Magic Johnson's theater, maybe, somewhere.
And then you guys can just figure it out.
JIMMY KIMMEL: All right, well, that will be fun.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: Yeah. [LAUGHTER]
JIMMY KIMMEL: there are gonna be a lot of disappointed people
if you are not there.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: There's gonna be
a lot of disappointed people.
But just, I will be on the screen, no matter what.
JIMMY KIMMEL: [LAUGHS] You will be.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: One way or another,
I will be on the screen.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Michael B. Jordan, everybody.
His movie's called "Just Mercy." [CHEERS, APPLAUSE]
It opens tomorrow.
We'll be right back.