Acting Marvel: interview with Michael B. Jordan
The sky’s the limit for Black Panther actor and Piaget ambassador
Michael B. Jordan may have played a villainous character in Marvel’s 2018 blockbuster Black Panther, but today he’s wearing a watch made for a superhero. The dial of American actor’s rose-gold Piaget Altiplano is cast from grey meteorite, a material arguably as enigmatic as Vibranium, the fictional metal much prized by Wakanda, the futuristic African nation portrayed in the movie.
Burning brightly in the entertainment universe right now is Jordan himself. Born in California and raised in Newark, New Jersey, he cut his teeth on critically acclaimed TV roles in hit US shows including The Wire and Friday Night Lights before becoming a serious Hollywood heavyweight on the back of performances in 2015 Rocky spin-off Creed and the $1.3 billion-grossing Black Panther.
The 32-year-old’s breakthrough is thanks in part to his own superpowers: unshakable resolve, self-belief, and a Herculean physique and signature high-beam smile. It may have taken 20 years of graft to get here, but, Jordan maintains, he never once doubted his ability.
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“You have to trick yourself into believing you’ll get there,” he explains. “I’ve always been like that. You have to have that blind faith. I know it doesn’t always happen like that for everyone, but for me it did.”
A Piaget ambassador since 2015, he’s the perfect mix of fun, plucky and fiercely career-focused to represent the marque’s luxury watch division, a concern that has always excelled in producing exquisitely crafted timepieces with a stylish, standout twist.
In the ’60s, Piaget pioneered ultra-thin movements, which remain a technological forté: last year, it showcased the Altiplano Ultimate Automatic 910P, a concept watch just 4.3mm thick. It was also the first Swiss watchmaker to decorate dials with semi-precious stones such as lapis lazuli, opal, tiger’s eye and jade; indeed, precious stone dials are still a house specialism - hence Jordan’s meteorite timepiece.
Today we’re in Geneva, home to the Large Hadron Collider – proof that cosmic, otherworldly stuff does happen in these deceptively sedate parts. This must include the rarefied art of luxury watchmaking, too, an anachronistic Swiss-led craft that leaves the mind well and truly boggled, especially when dealing with a brand like Piaget. This spring, the marque has unveiled three limited-edition, celestial-inspired Altiplano ultra- slim watches: the High Jewellery model, which boasts a midnight- blue sunray dial and diamond-set bezel; the Tourbillon with its blue meteorite dial, also with a diamond bezel; and a pink-gold iteration of the grey meteorite dial worn by Jordan today, one of only 300 pieces available worldwide.
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Our interview is taking place at the SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) watch fair, a prestigious trade/press event started by luxury conglomerate Richemont, which owns Piaget as well as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. The Piaget stand – imagine a deluxe boutique within a spotless exhibition hall – has been turned into a mock private beach club for the occasion, complete with juice bar and comfy divans. The vibe is not exactly space-age, but infinitely more refined and in-keeping with a lavish ‘getaway’ theme that underscores the brand’s enduring legacy as an emblem of the chic jet-set.
Life’s a beach for Jordan, too, right now: he has three films in pipeline, including a fourth collaboration with Ryan Coogler, who directed him in Black Panther, Creed and the highly praised 2013 biographical drama Fruitvale Station. The actor also owns a production company, Outlier Society, which is set to remake The Thomas Crown Affair this year (featuring Jordan in the titular role) and to produce an adaptation of A Journal for Jordan – an emotive memoir written by a mother to her son about his father, who died in the Iraq War – directed by Denzel Washington.
Jordan was one of the first producers to adopt an inclusion rider – a legal clause that requires his company’s projects to meet a certain level of diversity. It’s a move he hopes will be replicated across the industry. There’s also the small matter of his own directorial debut: Jordan is set to step behind the camera for the film adaptation of The Stars Beneath Our Feet, the best-selling 2017 young adult novel by David Barclay Moore.
“You spend a lot of your time hoping and wishing something is going to happen, then all of a sudden things start to take shape and you can’t stop,” Jordan says with a smile as we sit in the ‘boutique’s’ makeshift interview room. “I just try to control my destiny as much as possible.” Looking suave in a slim-cut grey Prince-of-Wales-check suit layered over a black crew neck, the actor exudes self-confidence as well as a finely tuned sense of style. Here’s a man who likes his sparkle: he wears a diamond stud in each ear, as well as a hard-to-miss Piaget diamond pinkie ring on his right hand to match his starry timepiece.
Presentation matters a lot to Jordan, and he has exacting standards when it comes to wardrobe choices: his left shirt cuff is always shortened a touch to showcase his watch, and his trousers are subtly personalised, too. “I like them altered at an angle so that the front lays here but it’s a little bit longer at the back,” he says, smiling broadly, as he points to the subtle curve of his trouser hem. “It’s just the way I like things done.”
Jordan maintains that such idiosyncrasies don’t stretch to his professional life, but he does have a unique way of preparing for every role that suggests this assiduous attention to detail serves him equally well on-screen. “I am a perfectionist for sure,” he laughs. “I write journals for all my roles, from the earliest memory of a character right up until the first page of a script, and that becomes my foundation for the character. It’s hard to know where somebody’s going if you don’t know where they are from. So when you get a script, you know how that guy operates and how to make choices. We shoot out of order, so jotting things down also helps you to remain locked in.”
Given his predilection for planning, spur-of-the-moment speeches aren’t really his thing. “There’s something about presenting or reading from a teleprompter that kind of gets me,” Jordan says. “In that situation, you really want your message to be delivered in an organic way, so there’s added pressure. Maybe it’s a pressure I put on myself. That’s the only time I think I get nervous.”
Having already fulfilled many of his dreams, the actor, producer and soon-to-be director is eyeing new targets, with his sights set on potential future star-studded collaborations. “I really want to work with Leo [DiCaprio],” he says, emphatically. “I want to work with all the greats! There’s Denzel, there’s Donald Glover...”
For now, though, there’s planning to do at home. “I’m at a transition [point] in my life. I’m getting my household together. For the last few years, I’ve been a nomad, living out of suitcases. I’ve been around the world, so I think the next chapter of my life is finding my new home, you know, figuring out where I’m at.”
Truth be told, Michael B Jordan knows exactly where he’s at – like all shooting stars, he’s soaring above a landscape of possibilities.
Alexandra Zagalsky is a London-based journalist specialising in luxury, art and travel. She began her career working on a cultural guide for English-speaking expats in Paris, where her first major break was an interview with Lionel Poilâne, the late baker of Saint-Germain-des-Prés famed for his signature sourdough loaves. Returning to London in her early 20s, she went on to write for not only The Week but also The Art Newspaper’s Art of Luxury supplement, The Telegraph and The Times, as well as art and design platforms including 1stDibs’ Introspective Magazine and the magazines of the V&A, Sotheby’s and Christie’s. She studied fine art and art history at Goldsmiths, University of London and continues to explore travel journalism through the lens of art, craftsmanship and culture.