- Tessa Thompson says she and Michael B. Jordan went to couples therapy as ‘Creed III’ characters.
- “The line between the character and us gets blurred at times,” Thompson said.
- The actor said couples therapy helps “to refine communication and understand how someone works.”
Couples therapy can be beneficial for partners who want to strengthen their bond. But couples therapy for movie characters? This may be a first.
‘Creed III’ star Tessa Thompson revealed in a recent interview with Refinery29 that she and Michael B. Jordan went to couples therapy as their characters, Bianca and Adonis “Donnie” Creed, to prepare for the film.
“The line between the character and us sometimes becomes blurred because we bring so much of what we personally explore to the characters in general,” Thompson said. “So funny, it was the first time…I’m probably saying too much. I will say that it was a first experience of couples therapy for both of us [personally]but it was like these characters, which is very weird.”
Although Thompson and Jordan starred together in the previous two “Creed” movies, the actor said couples therapy can be helpful, even when relationships are going well, to “just fine-tune communication and figure out how someone A work”.
“In the time we’ve been making these movies for eight, nine years, we’ve seen each other through different stages of our own romantic things,” she said. “So we know things about each other’s lives. We shared and talked about it. So therapy ended up starting at work and becoming more personal.”
“Also, was it a chance for us to really talk to a couples therapist and understand what are some of the things young parents try to balance their own dreams and aspirations?” Thompson added. “What are the themes you see? What are the things they might be dealing with? What might be their barriers to happiness or success as a couple? It was also really fascinating to hear about her and bring that into the stew.”
Based on the film’s performance at the domestic box office, all that preparation paid off. “Creed III,” which also stars Jonathan Majors as Creed’s rival, beat projections for its opening weekend, raise $58.6 million and making the biggest sports movie opening in history, according to MGM.