Michael B. Jordan is set to star as another fictional athlete in Creed, the seventh movie in the “Rocky” franchise, after previously playing Vince Howard on Friday Night Lights, and starring in the critically acclaimed Fruitvale Station.
With those credits under his belt and the fact that he is one of the biggest up-and-coming names in Hollywood, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see him portray a real-life athlete in a biopic one of these days as well. Except, according to Jordan himself, that role will not be Kobe Bryant.
In the wake of Kobe’s retirement announcement on Sunday, TMZ caught up with Jordan and asked him about the potential for a Black Mamba movie. While the actor said a Kobe movie should absolutely be made, he demurred when the cameraman said he should play the lead role.
It seems inevitable that a movie about someone as polarizing as Kobe will eventually go into production, but as fine an actor as Jordan is, he’s probably a good 6 or 7 inches too short to play a believable Kobe (not to mention the fact that someone with the name Michael Jordan would play Kobe Bryant in a movie, which would be pretty meta).
So who would be able to believably portray someone of Kobe’s stature on the big screen? Thankfully, Kobe has answered that question before.
(Via TMZ)
