Michael B. Jordan Is Vogue’s October Cover Star!

0:00Propel Fitness Water with Gatorade electrolytes, zero sugar, and vitamins. Propel hydrates better than water to help you get the most out of your workout and get back to your best self. What propels you? Propel with Gatorade electrolytes. This episode is brought to you by Palmolive. Family time isn't just the big moments. It's weeknight dinners. Sitting around the table, everyone talking all at once. So when the plates are empty and the sink is full, use Palmolive Ultra. Palmolive's most powerful formula removes up to 99.9 % of grease, leaving your dishes sparkling clean. And the new convenient pump makes cleaning even easier, so you can spend less time tackling dishes and more time together.

0:42Shop now at palmolive.com. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast instead of doom scrolling? Smart move. Another smart move? Getting help from one of State Farm's 19 ,000 local agents when you choose to bundle home and auto. Bundling, just another way to save with the personal price plan. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. Arthur lost his first tooth yesterday. It's very exciting. And so I got home from dinner and like made him a special tooth fairy package.

1:24Hope no children are listening. and then was like canceled boxing so I could be there when he woke up and instead he woke up at 4 a.m. and woke Graham up and then was so amped up that he didn't go back to sleep. So anyway, I am tired. You managed to fit boxing into your New York Fashion Week schedule. You literally... No, I didn't. I didn't go because I was waiting to see the tooth fairy.

1:50My God.

1:54This is The Run Through. I'm Chloe Mel. And I'm Choma Nardi. And today on the podcast, I can't believe I have the pleasure of sharing a lovely conversation I had with the Oscar winning actor, Michael B. Jordan. That cover is, I don't want to use the F word, but I want to use the F word. It's so good. The F word being fabulous? Yes, fabulous. It's so fabulous. Thank you, Choma. I really love this cover. Oh my God. We were all so excited about him. It's joy, but it's also power. and excitement. Sexy. He has so many projects coming up. And it's funny because he's directing Thomas Crown Affair. And last night in the Taxi Home, I saw the first advertisement for it on Taxi TV.

2:38And I was with a friend and she was like, ooh, I can't wait to see that. And I was like, wait till tomorrow. So we've been so excited about this. It was such an honor to have him on the cover. I'm so jealous you get to chat with him, but I can't wait to listen. Carlos Nazario styled it. Luis Alberto Rodriguez shot it. And we had Kela Fasene, write the cover story. And he and Michael B. Jordan got along so well that MBJ invited him to come on set with him an additional day. I think they traveled together to Barcelona for something. So they really connected. And I love that you love it. Choma texted me this morning and said, all the aunties are framing this, which I love.

3:15I mean, I haven't had a chance to really go deep because I think people are still digesting the fact that like he's on the cover and it's the best picture of him ever taken in my opinion he just looks so great so relaxed so cool so sexy all the things and yeah I'm excited for people to be framing to be talking about it it's like everybody loves this man and he just deserves this moment so I think it's so exciting I'm a huge fan and um I hear that he's been spending a lot of time in London this last year because of the upcoming movie. But I have not spotted him around town. How is it possible? You better rectify that, young lady.

3:54I need to go out more. I'm just too much of a hermit. What's wrong with me? I want to see that Naughty by Nature MBJ cameo. My God. But Chomo, we were also texting this morning about how fun it is that we have the two Sinners stars, the last year's number one picture on our covers together. I love the Woon Me cover so much. She is so gorgeous. She looks amazing. I love that color on her. Me too. We didn't plan this, guys. Just so you know, we didn't plan this. But I just think, wow, the same day, that amazing movie celebrating two people that we both adore. Wumi, I mean, I fell in love with her the moment I saw her on screen in that film.

4:35She gave such a spellbinding performance. And then I had the pleasure of interviewing her here in the podcast in person. And let me tell you, she is as divine looking in person as she is in pictures. And she's just warm and lovely. And then what happened was when we shot the shoot, there's like a funny little story to it. Because I was like, I'd love for you to invite your family to be part of this. Like she's coming back to Manchester. She's from Manchester, which is also where, you know, our new PM, Andy Burnham, was the... King of the North. King of the North. So we were like, let's go more that way.

5:10Also, sight of Chomonati working at Man United, right? Oh, my God. Yes. I have long history with Manchester. I used to go to college. I was like, we must shoot up there. So everybody, I'm so happy that we did. And Dan Jackson and Julia Sajimoire, our beloved contributing fashion director, went up to Manchester to do this. and Wumi's mother features in the fashion story. She turned 70 and Wumi turned 40 and they had a little birthday celebration on set with the kids and the crew. So we had cake and everything. So it was really fun. And she just texted me to say she loves it. So I'm thrilled because I am a big fan of her and it's always the biggest compliment to get it from the person who you shoot.

5:53So yeah, I'm so glad you like it. I love it. But you've been busy. I want to hear everything about New York Fashion Week. Highlights. I brought Alice to her first fashion show. She came to Anasui with me, and the collection was titled Wondermint, and that was exactly how Alice felt. And she sat front row and did little clapping at the end. It was very cute. And blessedly, the gift bag from Anasui Makeup was a ice cream sundae-shaped perfume. So Alice felt like she had died and gone to heaven. and then we went to the Emily Don Long presentation at Bridges after and she ate an entire box of popcorn there so she was very happy and what was her review what were her highlights I'd want to know her review of the show was I like the pink one best and these look like beautiful clothes for ancestors which we thought was very profound oh my gosh how old is again?

6:49Four. Oh my goodness. Oh wow.

6:55I love the Proenza show. I thought they were great pieces. It felt like an exciting next chapter for Rachel. So I was thrilled about that. I always loved the Tory Burch show. As you know, I loved the colors and the mix. I want those There were these like, oh, the cardigans. I'm sorry, but the cardigans were like amazing. And actually that combo of a cardigan and a skirt, it did like a cool pencil skirt really reminded me of you. And I was like, I can't wait for Chloe. Oh, I'm going to wear this too. Sorry, Chloe. We're going to be twinning. We're going to be twinning. Let's just face the facts right now.

7:34I know. And I love Tori had these sort of sheared silk boas that she draped in this like loose way over some of the outfits. And I really thought that was chic. And I think Danielle Kalmeier does such a good job. And she did a really chic show at the Ukrainian Institute, which is also known as the Cruel Intentions House. She had beautiful Kalmyer branded dark chocolate when people arrived. And the collection was very restrained, but had a very elegant point of view. And she had a very cool front row. I feel like if you have Celine Song in your front row, you're doing something right. Oh, totally.

8:12Choma, who was your best dressed at the Emmys on Monday night? Okay, I have three. First up, I think I'm really loving that Zendaya is like 90s Harry Berry era vibe. I think she's looking amazing. She looked amazing in Prada. I thought the beauty, the glam was just perfect. And I have to say that Carrie Mulligan in The Row was just exquisite. I mean, heaven. For all her fashion heads, we all gasped. I mean, the minute that dress walked the runway, everyone was like, who was going to wear that? We put it on Gracie Abrams for our cover story. and she looked incredible. It's the sort of degrade, Miss Havisham-esque, cobalt blue strapless dress that walked in the row show.

8:57Sublime. It was like literally maybe my favorite look of the night. And then I did also like Sarah Pidgeon in that lilac Chanel. How about you? Yes. And Danielle Goldberg styles Carrie and flawless as ever. And I thought Sarah Pidgeon looked lovely. Ayo, I love that Chanel for her. I thought for suiting, I liked Emma Darcy as well. I thought they looked great. And Louisa Jacobson looked so chic in Tom Ford. I loved that outfit. We are all fans of Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell. They are our couple, TV couple of the moment. And that was actually Kate's first custom red carpet dress. I liked that leather.

9:39Yeah, it was really good on her. Yeah, it was very good. That was her first ever, really. I'm surprised. Meg Stalter, God bless her, dressed as an Emmy. I hope it wasn't too heavy, but she just cracks me up. I know some people find it too much, but I support people going big. Go big or go home. Choma we have big breaking news today at Vogue which is Lena Dunham wrote a beautiful essay for us on her child being born and how she's collected how she became obsessed with collecting vintage clothes while she waited for her baby to come and she just it's a very intimate and thoughtful beautifully written piece about preparing for this big moment and how she worked with a surrogate and what that process was like.

10:29So I'm so proud and excited that we have that exclusive moment. Wow. So Lady Gaga and Lena Dunham in the same week. I know. In the meantime, we are on the, basically on the eve of, we're recording this on Wednesday and we're on the eve of London Fashion Week. And I'm super, super excited. And I mean, in the meantime, that the entire city has been gripped by Bayek's tapestry, mania. So I managed to get in to see it. And Liam wrote about the Bayou Tapestry merch, which is incredible. The Bayou Tapestry merch is so good. It's super good. It's so good. Yes. You know, I think you would really like the Christmas ornaments.

11:09They were especially good. So, yeah. So I'm glad I got to, I spent a lot of time, but it just takes hours. People take like hours pouring over that thing. Like it was crazy. And then I think I spent more time in the gift shop, but that's just me. Yes, exit through the gift shop seemed to be an important motto for this one. I am very jealous. I really want to see that. Yeah, it's here for a while. So you should definitely come. Come over. We want you over here. Yeah, I know I want to come. We had Choma such a fun, charming event on Monday night at Juilliard, celebrating the Juilliard students in our fashion story from the September issue.

11:51Oh, that must have been really fun. It was so cute. We had even Juilliard branded cookies and we partnered with Aritzia and they have the most adorable Juilliard collaboration. And so everyone got Juilliard sweatshirts, which then people were wearing to the office the next day. So it really was a very wholesome, classically inclined evening. Oh, I love that. And they performed and they were so good. This young woman was spectacular singing I could have danced all night. The pianist was incredible. And Gustavo Dudamel came and spoke to the crowd. And my God, we are all dudamaniacs. I mean, he is so charming.

12:28It's impossible. And one of our producers came and recorded some snippets, choice snippets from the event.

12:39We are here in the lobby of Juilliard Music School. The pianist has started the caviar Our chips and steak frites are moving around, and we are ready to get going. And the maestro himself will be here shortly. One of my favorite stories in the September issue was Theo Wenner's and Miyako Belizzi's story with the students from Juilliard in fall fashion. And it is the most exuberant, joyful, wonderful story. and that was paired with our profile of Gustavo Dudamel, photographed by Norman Jean Roy, written by Maddie Conlon. And it was so exciting to me to get the exclusive interview with the maestro.

13:25I've been a fan for a long time. I'm a Dudamaniac and now I'm so happy we get to celebrate that. My name is Holden Kanowski. When I was doing the shoot for Vogue, I was a dancer and I was pulled in to do the shoot. So that was exciting. It was like a moment of collaboration finally between the dancers and the musicians. I was a graduating senior at the time, just graduated in May. And it was absolutely incredible. It was amazing. I definitely will never forget that day, those few hours. It was surreal to not only be featured in it, but to see that there was an entire page. It was absolutely surreal.

14:15I am Celia Wojcik. I play oboe, and I'm in my fourth year undergrad at Juilliard. So basically, I got my fitting at the Vogue Center and World Trade Center. And basically, I got fitted for like four different outfits. and then the day of the shoot, it was like a bunch of hours on set with everybody. I wore like three different outfits, I think. It was super cool. We shot in the room that we rehearsed orchestra. We shot in the hallways and all over the campus, and it was such a wonderful experience.

14:54I love this city. I love the people in this city. I love the energy, the dynamic, and it feels very natural. This city has a very special vibe, vibrancy, that it conquers me every day, really. The run-through will be back in just a moment with my Fulpi Jordan.

15:24Propel Fitness Water. With Gatorade electrolytes, zero sugar, and vitamins, Propel hydrates better than water to help you get the most out of your workout and get back to your best self. What propels you? Propel with Gatorade electrolytes. This episode is brought to you by Palmolive. Family time isn't just the big moments. It's weeknight dinners, sitting around the table, everyone talking all at once. So when the plates are empty and the sink is full, use Palmolive Ultra. Palmolive's most powerful formula removes up to 99.9 % of grease, leaving your dishes sparkling clean. And the new convenient pump makes cleaning even easier, so you can spend less time tackling dishes and more time together.

16:07Shop now at palmolive.com. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast instead of doom scrolling? Smart move. Another smart move? Getting help from one of State Farm's 19 ,000 local agents when you choose to bundle home and auto. Bundling, just another way to save with the personal price plan. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state.

16:43Well, congratulations. I actually saw your Vogue cover for the first time today and I was absolutely floored. It's so good. Thank you. It's so good. I'm glad you liked it. Appreciate it. I love it. And you know what's so funny? I had no idea that this was happening all under our nose in our office in the UK. Well, first of all, wait, wait, wait, wait. Funny story, funny story, funny story. So I got a bone to pick with y 'all over there. Go on. Because it is no way that they cut off y 'all AC on the weekends. Why do they do that? Why did they turn off all your AC? Not just on the weekends. The temperature varies in every room.

17:25It's a different climate. I have a bone to pick with this building too. So I will pass along your comments. We need to get together and unify over this because that ain't right. That ain't right. Uh-uh. No, but it was a cool time being in the office. It was great to see, you know, to see a space with nobody in there. You know, that's usually super busy. and a lot of movement and people running all over the place. And to see it completely empty was kind of cool. I know, because I was like, you were literally a superhero in and out of here. Because I was like, I didn't know this was happening. So it was a lovely surprise.

18:02Yeah, oh man, I'm glad I can give you that. It was a lot of moving pieces. So I'm happy it was able to work out. Tell me about the shoot. I love the gardening concept. It seemed like you really got into it. I was. I fully committed to the gardener or character. It was a lot of fun. Honestly, we were trying to, you know, the shoot had moved around a couple different places, kind of chasing my schedule. And everybody at Vogue was super helpful in trying to find a solution to get it done. So I was doing some reshoots in London and we figured, okay, how do we use the environment? How do we use location as a place to kind of help tell the story of myself?

18:44And we felt like a garden was like the, you know, symbolic for, I guess, the things that I was growing and things that I was, you know, building around me and kind of tending to the garden in certain aspects. So, you know, take that and run with it. And we came up with this concept between, you know, Carlos and Luis and everybody over at Vogue. We figured out a cool vibe. I loved it. Well, speaking of, I'm really excited for your new project. You're starring and directing the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. And I think there's already, are there already ads out? Because we were talking about this morning that they're rolling out the film, which I think will be everybody's super excited about.

19:26Could you tell us about a bit what will make this version different? What will make this version different? You know, whenever time has passed and, you know, this isn't like a complete remake. This is more of a reimagination of an idea and of a film and of a character that I fell in love with for the past, like, you know, 25 years of my life. You know, watching when I was younger and always wanted to play a character like this. And in the movie, you know, you get some twists and some turns. You know, the 68 version of Queen was based around, you know, bank robberies. And that was thematically on par for that time period and that generation.

20:07and the 99 version with Brosnan. And it was more around the art scene and the art culture. I grew up around art so that we make some nods to both in some regard. Always keeping that cat and mouse dynamic. That's really interesting and kind of seductive and electric between these two characters. And then you got a man who has a secret to reveal, you know, a little bit based on revenge. the stakes are a little bit higher personally this time around and and we wanted to broaden the scope and and make it as as big and intimate as possible at the same time I know that's a lot but it's a lot of things no it's good I was like I was gonna ask you to tease out what you could because I know the film is still under embargo but I think that gives us a a really nice taste what's to come I tried to move around that one as much as I could I tried to I tried to give you a or something.

21:02What was it like directing? Because I'm very curious to know what it was like stepping into that role. It was a lot of fun. This would be my second time behind the camera and honestly taking all the things that I learned and all the lessons from Creed 3 and applying that this time around. You think you learned some things and I guess you have, but there's always something new around the corner, you know, waiting for you and, you know, just being a little bit more comfortable in that role. So much time has passed. There's a whole generation that's not familiar with Thomas Crown. So I looked at this as a way to make this like an origin story and an introduction to who Thomas Crown is.

21:40And for the people who have seen the previous versions of it, you know, they have a bit of nostalgia and something that they can connect with also. I mean, I love that a decade ago you mentioned wanting to go for roles that were written for white characters and that playing this will make it that in some ways. The Thomas Crown affair feels like a realization of that desire? Would you say that's fair to say? And what kind of roles do you want to pursue now? I mean, I think that was at a time where I think typecasting was really strong, you know, and I'm of a generation. Look, I came up in the industry where you're still walking around with headshots and resumes and going up to cast directors and handing over, you know, when you walk into the room and it may still be like that in some regard, but a lot has evolved and changed in our industry.

22:30And I think when trying to get people to view you as an actor, not just one way, on the page, on the paper, writers sometimes write from their experiences and things they want to see. And more often than not, the roles and the characters that were circulating were sometimes one-dimensional in a big way. So that was more of a statement to kind of put that out there. It's like, look, give me the character, you know, and me walking in those shoes, me in that role, is going to make it what it needs to be, you know? So without any, like, you know, projections or bias that could be put on a character from, you know what I'm saying, if that makes sense?

23:10Yeah, no, that makes total sense. And Thomas Crown was one that, yeah, that I always, I love the spirit of the character, you know? It felt like when you're watching something as a kid or a young adult and you project yourself. Do you remember when you watched it for the first time? Yeah, I was in Jersey at home and it came on TV eventually. And it was something that I was just sitting at the house watching. And my mom's a painter. She's an artist. So just being in that world of art, I grew up in New Jersey. and before I started going to New York frequently, that was like my first really introduction to like museums, you know, in the city and just being in that world.

23:55And I saw a film that I felt like wish fulfillment and ambition and having fun and all the cool sleek and the cars and it's the vibe in the world. And it's just something for me to imagine myself in. Yeah. Yeah, no, I totally get that. I mean, this year has been such a huge year for you. You're in production on another film, Miami Vice 85 with Austin Butler. You voiced the Netflix animated feature swap, which recently broke into Netflix's most popular movies list. Congratulations. And of course, you won an Academy Award for your role in Sinners, which was so major and such a wonderful moment. What was going through your mind?

24:34I mean, the minute you were named, like, I just can't imagine what it must feel like. The whole world is watching you and you gave such a wonderful speech. So I'd love to know what was going through your mind were you nervous what was the vibe I mean yeah there's always a set of nerves that's definitely living with you in that moment and and just the journey to get to that point just really grateful and and to have that uh the type of run that I've been on and and to consistently be working and be in the middle of post-production I'm editing you know Thomas Crown now and trying to get this thing ready for you guys in march and and and and having to step away from that to you know to dive into you know this award season kind of kept me worried about the right things you know in the middle of all the noise and the chaos and and just all the zoo and the circus that is uh award season without with all the great moments it's a lot of it's a lot of extra stuff going along i was able to kind of grab myself into this movie that i've dedicated so much of my time and my life to to get to get done and then having my mom with me honestly every i know i love that you were there with your mom yeah every every step of the way she's the reason why i'm i'm in this in you know in this industry and i get a lot of my emotional sensibility from you know so so uh just to see her you know how much you sacrificed you know for myself and my siblings along the way it means to see her be be there with me was all the confidence and kind of support that i needed it yeah so yeah you're sitting in that stage you know you got everybody in there as to you know you've seen it a bunch of times on tv you've been to the show you know and always slightly imagine what it would feel like getting your name called and stepping up on that stage and um to do it with a role like this roles like this and and a project to do it alongside my my brother ryan cooler us being on this journey together to kind of like have that moment um with that cast and you know And those nominees as well, you know, like those are people that I admire and, you know, been inspired by their work and continue to, you know, to root for them.

26:39And yeah, man, it was a lot of fun. Well, it was a tremendous performance and I absolutely enjoyed being swept up with everything that came along with it and going to see it in IMAX, waiting in line. Oh man, thank you so much. It was just such a cultural moment. It was like a real, you get movies that feel like they just signal a big cultural turning point. They're kind of markers of the moment. It's so wonderful to be able to live through that. Like, that's the movie that I can, the experience of going to see, I can talk about that to my kids one day, you know? It's, like, fabulous. Man, that inspires me so much to hear you say that.