Michael B. Jordan Explains How NARUTO Inspired the Fight Scenes in CREED III

Creed III director Michael B. Jordan has talked about in the past how the fight scenes in the film were inspired by anime. He said in a previous interview that he “had a huge Japanese anime influence on a lot of my fighters.”

He now expands on that in a new interview with Polygon, and specifically revealed that he took a lot of inspiration from Episode 450 of Naruto Shippuden and specifically mentioned Naruto and Sasuke as a reference to a punch that happens in the fight between Adonis and Damian. He went on to say:

“Yeah, but that punch has happened a few times in anime. It happened in Dragon Ball Z also, between Goku and Vegeta. But for me, [the Creed III scene] was about the relationship between two brothers, so the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke was where the inspiration for that relationship kind of stemmed from.

“The fight between Creed and Damian had to be an even battle, and in an emotionally high place where these two men were both baring their souls to one another. The emotional level they were at, where they were coming at it from, the emotions between those two characters. That was the moment I leaned into with that scene from Naruto.”

Jordan also said that watches anime “every day,” and he had a ton of inspiration to draw from:

“I mean, I watch anime every day. It’s like these images are burned into my head. So when I was in pre-production and putting together the fight choreography, it was just second nature to me to reach for that.

“There’s a few moments like that in there: the gut punch — boom! There were moments during production where I was like, Where do I infuse these moments? I just have a highlight reel of moments from my favorite anime constantly running through my head that, you know, if it makes sense and it fits with the movie, I just pull from that for inspiration. You know, try this or try that. It just came together naturally like that. It’s hard to explain, but yeah.”

He also offered examples of friendships and rivalries that helped inform the dynamic between the two main characters in Creed III:

“[Ed and Alphonse from] Fullmetal Alchemist was definitely one. Goku and Vegeta [from Dragon Ball Z], Bakugo and Midoriya from My Hero Academia. Those are just a few. When you’re watching anime, there’s all these similar tones, themes, and feelings between them all that in a sense boil down to when a hero is challenged, and they usually have a best friend or rival that’s the one challenging them in a lot of ways. There’s a lot of different ways anime iterates on these themes and feelings. So for me, tapping into that was just a part of me.

“These are just some of the ones I watch, but these points are interchangeable across a lot of different anime. And that’s what I love about it. They repackage these feelings and beats and emotions in different ways through different styles of animation. I’m watching Blue Lock right now, which is dope as f**k, and that’s all about the ego of these characters, them developing their skills, and devouring different styles and defeating others in order to evolve and grow.”

So, basically, Creed III is a live-action anime film that Jordan really wanted to make! I love it, and I’m really excited about finally getting to watch the movie!

In the film, we see Creed faces off with an old childhood friend, who is looking to settle a score after getting out of prison. This character’s name is Damian, and he is being played by Jonathan Majors. This looks like it’s going to be one hell of an intense fight!

The synopsis for the film reads:

After dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed (Jordan) has been thriving in both his career and family life. When a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, Damian (Majors), resurfaces after serving a long sentence in prison, he is 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.

The rest of the cast includes Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris, Florian Munteanu, and Phylicia Rashad, as well as new cast members Selenis Leyva, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Spence Moore II, Mila Davis-Kent, and Canelo Álvarez.

Creed III will be released on March 3rd.