Michael B. Jordan & Jamie Foxx Discuss the 'Just Mercy' Inclusion Rider & Their Friendship

Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, and activist and attorney Bryan Stevenson are on the cover of Variety‘s latest issue, out now.

Here’s what the stars had to say…

Michael B. Jordan on the inclusion rider for Just Mercy: “We’re always coming from a place of not having power. I was like, man, I want my environment to be a reflection of the world I’m living in. We started figuring out a way to do this, so now if you want to do this project with me, you’ve got to accept these terms.”

Michael B. Jordan on the momentum and success of Black casting: “Our industry is very reactive. Take Black Panther. Before it came out, it was black films don’t travel. They don’t sell internationally. Nobody will come and see an all-black cast. Marvel said, ‘All right, we’re going to put this up.’ Now watch how many black sci-fi projects are coming out. Everybody sees they’re profitable, and they’re all saying,‘I want some of that too.’”

Jamie Foxx on how his experiences growing up in Texas prepared him for the role: “It allowed me to understand that when they’re saying ‘n*****,’ it’s sort of like very matter of fact. It’s just another Tuesday. You have to have that sensibility to understand who this character is.”

Michael B. Jordan on his relationship with Jamie Foxx: “Jamie was one of those people who, in my head, I was always like, ‘I can’t wait to repay him. My parents would hear stories about Hollywood, and there were a lot of reservations on their part about letting me go out there. But what met me on the other side in Los Angeles was this community of people like Jamie that genuinely cared about me. It made all the difference in the world. Mistakes that I could easily have made, they made sure I didn’t or scared me away from it.”

For more from Michael and Jamie, head to Variety.com.