Michael B. Jordan reveals how ‘Naruto,’ ‘Dragon Ball Z’ and other anime influenced ‘Creed III’
The fight between Creed and Damian had to be an even battle, and in an emotionally high place where these two men were both baring their souls to one another. The emotional level they were at, where they were coming at it from, the emotions between those two characters. That was the moment I leaned into with that scene from “Naruto.”
They repackage these feelings and beats and emotions in different ways through different styles of animation. I’m watching “Blue Lock” right now — which is dope as f*ck — and that’s all about the ego of these characters, them developing their skills, and devouring different styles and defeating others in order to evolve and grow.
When Sasuke acknowledged that Kurama [the nine-tailed fox] was inside of Naruto and was like, “Oh, this is what you’ve got up inside of you? This is what’s inside of you? Nah, we ’bout to shut all that shit down.” They went to that space. I was like, “Oh man, that would be dope if I could figure out a way to get these two guys into a void,” and that’s where they were really having their final battle at. It wasn’t about nobody else — it wasn’t about anyone else watching the fight. It was about these two dudes who couldn’t emotionally say what they had to say with their words, so they had to physically get it out through fighting. So that idea evolved into revisiting their childhood trauma and making it more like performance art, even.
I think that resilience, that never-give-up attitude, is what I connect with, and I dig that. I think the unassuming nature of Goku, his disarming nature combined with his ability to be ready for whatever happens when his back is against the wall, is really inspiring. He always steps up to whatever challenge.
So for me, [Naruto] is about promises. The importance of keeping your promises, of being able to say, “I’m sorry,” the importance of the bonds and friendships you make when you’re coming up. I could go on in a lot of different ways, but I think those are the ones that really stick out to me the most, and why I think they resonate with a lot of other people as well, too.
