Acting is a job that requires great control over one’s body. Sometimes, performers are required to undergo extreme changes, like Matthew McConaughey, who dropped around 50 pounds (20 kg) to portray Ron Woodroof, a man living with AIDS, in Dallas Buyers Club.
However, in other cases, it’s the subtle changes that make a difference and give a character a distinct personality.
In the Oscar-nominated film Sinners, Michael B. Jordan plays identical twins Stack and Smoke, who return to their Mississippi hometown in the 1930s to confront their past, only to find themselves facing a supernatural evil.
Image credits: James Manning/Getty Images
To master the roles, Michael worked with twin filmmakers Logan and Noah Miller as on-set consultants, who helped the actor capture the unique dynamic between twin brothers.
Speaking on The Kelly Clarkson Show, his Sinners co-star Wunmi Mosaku revealed that Michael controlled the muscles in his face in a certain way to give one of the twins dimples.
“Stack has dimples and Smoke doesn’t, and that isn’t makeup! That is literally how Michael held his face. Like, his eyebrows are more up and out,” shared Wunmi, who plays Smoke’s estranged wife, Annie. “That’s the quality of his acting.”
Image credits: Warner Bros. Pictures
She also said Michael’s eyes were more “hooded” when he played Smoke and continued to praise how naturally he switched between the twins.
“I don’t know how he did it, because for me it was seamless. Like, I was never confused.”
The revelation made the host’s jaw drop. Online, many were equally impressed by Michael’s skills.
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“The amount of precise facial control you need to control dimples is worthy of an Oscar,” one fan commented.
“Give him the Oscar NOW!” demanded another.
“Guess I’m watching Sinners AGAIN tonight,” said someone else.
“I absolutely love Michael B. Jordan. I knew he was something special when I saw him on The Wire I just knew,” a fourth gushed.
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The 39-year-old actor received his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor for Sinners.
He is competing in the category against Timothée Chalamet, who is tipped to win for Marty Supreme, Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in One Battle After Another, Ethan Hawe, nominated for Blue Moon, and Brazilian actor Wagner Moura, who starred in The Secret Agent.
The vampire film, which addresses topics such as racial injustice and family trauma, broke the record for the most Oscar nominations with a total of 16 nods, including Best Picture.
The vampire film received a record-breaking sixteen Oscar nominations
Michael revealed he wore different shoe sizes when playing each twin—tighter for Stack and one size too big for Smoke—to give each character a distinct walk.
“At birth, they lost their mother, and that shaped their personalities and who they were moving forward,” he told ScreenDaily.
“Smoke held his pain inside and didn’t speak much; Stack masked a lot of his pain with charisma and personality, not dwelling on one thing for too long. He’s always moving, always has an idea, always wants to talk.
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“For Stack, I wore a half-size too small — I couldn’t do a [full] size — because I needed him to move, talk, and be light on his feet. That informed how they stood, the way they walked and the cadence in which they spoke. Smoke didn’t like talking a lot, he chose his words wisely.”
The twins also wear different gold grills on their teeth, which helped Michael make each brother speak differently.
Image credits: Warner Bros. Pictures
Image credits: michaelbjordan
The actor had 20-30 minutes to switch between characters, during which he did voice exercises and listened to songs that reflected each brother’s personality.
For scenes featuring both twins, Michael would play the scene as either Smoke or Stack, with double Percy Bell standing in for the other. He then repeated the scene as the other brother before the two shots were stitched together digitally, as per ScreenDaily.
The California-born actor wore different shoe sizes for each twin to make them walk differently
Michael previously worked with director Ryan Coogler in Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther.
The filmmaker, who received an Oscar nomination for Best Director, said he tries not to think too much about the prestige associated with the awards show, as nothing will change how proud he is of the project.
“The biggest danger is, something like that can dampen your hope, make you disillusioned, or feel like what you do isn’t worth it,” he told Variety.
“I try to protect my love for what I do. If I know statistics are going to make me feel sad, I don’t think about it.”
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