Tessa Thompson revealed why she refused to say one particular word in the latest instalment of the ‘Creed’ franchise in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on Friday.
In the Rocky franchise spinoff Creed (2015), directed by Ryan Coogler, there is a hit scene where Bianca (played by Thompson) and Adonis “Donnie” Creed (played by Michael B. Jordan) share Philly cheesesteaks. In this scene, Bianca explains to Donnie, who is more familiar with L.A. slang, the meaning of the Philadelphia slang term “jawn”, which refers to any type of noun. However, in Creed III, Thompson made sure to not use that word, as the Creeds now consider LA as their home.
“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.’ Not saying ‘jawn’ was also a way of saying inside of the filmmaking that you are going to witness someone that is constantly evolving,” she said.
Thompson further explained, “She’s been in L.A. for a long while, and I think she has matured. So one way of signaling that is just that she speaks differently. She hasn’t changed fundamentally, but there are things about her where she has grown into a fuller expression of who she is. So there are no “jawns,” but who knows, a jawn could always come back around. “
Thompson talks about the future of the franchise
When asked about whether the star is playing Bianca again, Thompson replied letting a laugh out, “I don’t know! I think that there are possibilities. 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. The thing that has been really exciting about all of the movies that we’ve made thus far is that everyone has real skin in the game. 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.”
‘Creed III’ has arrived in theaters worldwide, yesterday.
