Michael B. Jordan is letting audiences into a little acting secret: he writes journals as his characters.
The actor tells Stephen Colbert that includes writing one to play the villain Erik Killmonger in the record-breaking box office smash “Black Panther”.
“I write journals for every character that I have, from the earliest memory up until the first page of the script. For me, it just kind of gives you context,” the actor says, calling his Killmonger journal “particularly dark.”
He continues: “It was a very sad journal, not having his mom growing up, [being] in and out of the system [in] foster care, foster homes and whatnot.”
Jordan, 31, explains Killmonger’s journal has a lot of “dark stuff” that is “probably not right” to talk about on the late-night show. But writing out those dark thoughts helped Jordan get into his character as a man who believes he’s been wronged by Wakanda.
“It was deep and allowed me to go to that place right before a scene,” he says. “It allowed me to lock in.”
Watch “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on Global.
