As he told Jimmy Kimmel, Michael B. Jordan would ask Denzel Washington for advice while they were working together on the 2021 film “A Journal For Jordan.” Washington, one of Hollywood’s most legendary and recognizable actors, made his directorial debut with 2002’s “Antwone Fisher.”
While rehearsing “A Journal For Jordan,” the actor Jordan said Washington offered him a “crucial” piece of advice. “‘You gotta storyboard, storyboard, storyboard,'” he recalled the “Flight” star warning. Jordan didn’t understand at the time why he was so adamant about this point, but Washington insisted — even to the point of immediately contacting Warren Dummond, a prolific storyboard artist who worked with Washington on “Antwone Fisher,” “Roman J. Israel, Esq.,” and “Fences.”
“We were in the middle of rehearsal,” began Jordan, “and he picks up his phone and he calls this guy and he was like ‘Hey, Warren, it’s D. Yeah, yeah, so remember that kid I was telling you about? Yeah, well uh, he’s gonna hire you. Alright cool.’ And he gives me the phone, and I’m like ‘oh, thanks, D, I appreciate that.'” Though he laughed about the memory, it seems as though that call may have been one of the most important ones he made leading up to production. “[Storyboarding] was so crucial,” he asserted. “Just to shot-list and really prepare what scenes are you actually gonna shoot and shots that you actually need. Storyboards were a lifesaver for me.”
