Tessa Thompson Refuses To Say This Word For Creed 3

Tessa Thompson is a brilliant actress who has featured in iconic films like Thor: Ragnarok, Annihilation, and Dear White People. She also stars opposite Micheal B. Jordan in the spinoff to the Rocky series Creed. Adonis Creed gets taken in by Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa, who is now old and washed up. 

The boxing legend trains Apollo Creed’s son to become a better man inside and outside the ring. Now the third movie in the series features Creed going against Damian (Jonaton Majors’ new character.) In the midst of changing plotlines, Thompson also wanted her character to evolve and be better. Here’s the official plot synopsis of Creed III:

Still dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed is thriving in his career and family life. When Damian, a childhood friend, and former boxing prodigy resurfaces after serving time in prison, he’s eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face-off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian — a fighter who has nothing to lose.

Thompson’s Demands

Thompson is a proud actress who takes charge of herself whenever she works in a movie. Naturally, she wanted her character to grow and leave some old things behind, just like the main character, Creed. Thompson’s character Bianca would often use the word ‘Jawn,’ which is used for nouns in the Philadelphia region. 

However, with the success Creed found, the two characters have now moved to Los Angeles in the third installment, and so Thompson only finds it natural that Bianca should lose the term to show character growth. 

“I said to them, ‘I’m not saying jawn in this movie because we’ve heard it, we’ve done it. I want to break new territory,’” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “Not saying ‘jawn’ was also a way of saying inside of the filmmaking that you are going to witness someone that is constantly evolving.”

There are possibilities of more movies once the Creed franchise ends, indicated the actress. The newest film was directed by Jordan himself, who was earlier only working as the lead actor with Ryan Coogler behind the camera. Now, many consider the possibility of expanding the franchise as Creed’s daughter also shows an inclination towards picking up boxing as a career. The real question is, how many boxing movies are too many boxing movies? The franchise started off with the famous Rocky films which starred Sylvester Stallone, who acts as producer for Creed III. Now, the franchise has evolved into a modern-day boxing drama starring a former boxer’s son. 

So will they make more films that feature the offspring of another boxer who is also into boxing? Fans wonder how long the series can be milked for all the money it can make. As of now, the film is doing great numbers at the domestic box office, earning around $5.45 million just this Thursday. Here’s Thompson’s take:

“When we think about the title character as a boxer, there’s now more than one Creed. So I think there are definitely narrative possibilities,” she said. “We have something that we collectively want to say, and I think there’s still plenty left to say. So if audiences want to see it, I think we’d all be happy to return.”