Black Panther was the breakout hit of 2018 - but, while audiences completely loved it, for one of the main actors, it came at a price.
In a recent interview, Michael B. Jordan, who played villain Erik Killmonger in the Marvel film, opened up about his struggle after filming, admitting that preparing for the movie had affected him to the extent that he sought therapy afterwards.
Speaking to Oprah Winfrey during a SuperSoul Conversation taping on Tuesday, the 31-year-old explained how he isolated himself to get into character, and it all caught up with him in the end.
"I spent a lot of time alone," he said. "I figured Erik, his childhood growing up was pretty lonely. He didn’t have a lot of people he could talk to about this place called Wakanda that didn't exist."
In addition, he told Oprah he had leaned on the "pain and rage and all those emotions" Killmonger represents from "being black and brown here in America".
However, when it was all finished, he found his state of mind was altered and so sought professional help.
"I think just being in that kind of mind state … it caught up with me," he confessed. "I wanted to be in this lonely place as long as I could. Readjusting to people caring about me, getting that love that I shut out, I didn't want love."
Fortunately, the actor's mental health improved after he saw a counsellor, with Jordan claiming they "helped me out a lot."
"Your mind is so powerful. Your mind will get your body past a threshold that it would have given up on way before," he said. "Honestly, therapy, just talking to somebody helped me out a lot. As a man, you get a lot of slack for it. I don’t really subscribe to that. Everyone needs to unpack and talk."
The Creed star did not reveal how often he went or if he is still in therapy now.
In the same interview, he went onto discuss the pressure of representing African Americans in Black Panther, saying it wasn't something he took on "lightly".
He explained: "Of course it’s an extreme, exaggerated version of the African diaspora from the African-American perspective. So to be able to take that kind of pain and rage and all those emotions that Erik kind of represents from being black and brown here in America. That was something I didn’t take lightly."
Black Panther is up for seven awards at the Oscars, with the film making history by becoming first superhero flick to get the Best Picture nod. It is also nominated for Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.
