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  • Los Angeles Times

    How Michael B. Jordan and the real-life lawyer he plays in 'Just Mercy' hope to spark change

    by Jen Yamato, Los Angeles Times Jan 09, 2020 7 minutes

    Michael B. Jordan began studying Bryan Stevenson the first time they met, sneaking glances at the noted civil rights attorney whom he now plays in the true-life drama "Just Mercy." How he spoke, how he drank his tea, any detail he could take in to better understand what makes Stevenson the person he is, a lawyer and activist devoted to righting systemic injustices and bringing humanity and change to the prison system.

    "I was sizing him up the whole time," Jordan said, flashing a megawatt smile at Stevenson as they sat, reunited, on a September day in Toronto, earning an amused grin in return. "I thought I was doing it without him noticing, but he told me he kind of felt it."

    They laughed, falling into an easy rhythm - the movie star and the lawyer, whose personal missions intertwine in "Just Mercy," which opens nationwide Friday after a limited Christmas berth.

    Jordan, 32, known for his roles as Oakland police-brutality victim Oscar Grant in "Fruitvale Station," villain Erik Killmonger in "Black Panther" and boxer Adonis Creed in "Creed," plays Stevenson in "Just Mercy" at a formative time in the jurist's life, as an eager young lawyer whose calling is

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