Michael B. Jordan felt the "legacy" of the 1977 hit ‘Rocky’ on his shoulders when he agreed to the star in the spin-off.
The 28-year-old actor appears alongside Hollywood legend Sylvester Stallone in the new movie ‘Creed’, in which he plays the son of Rocky Balboa’s famed rival Apollo Creed, Adonis – and has admitted he felt an overwhelming struggle to recreate even a fraction of the original’s huge success.
He explained: "With all the pieces of the puzzle on the table, to have the legacy of ‘Rocky’ on my shoulder a little bit.
"You step into a world that’s created forty years ago by Sly. Being a part of that whole world is really special and just trying to raise the bar or at least come close to what he did forty years ago … It kinda feels like an origin story, so it’s kinda cool."
Despite the pressure of taking on the mantle of Stallone’s boxing saga, Michael was put at ease by the veteran actor.
He told BBC Radio One’s breakfast show: "He said to me, ‘This isn’t ‘Rocky 7’. This is ‘Creed’, this is your film. Don’t compete with what I did forty years ago, don’t try to live up to any expectations. Just do your thing.’
"So that took the pressure off my shoulders before I even got to set. And it allowed me to come to work every day and do the best job I could do."
Creed’s Michael B. Jordan felt Stallone’s ‘legacy’
