The Method Man

Jonathan Majors has risen from indie standout to villain in blockbuster the Marvel and Rocky cinematic universes. None of it-the acclaim, the fame, nor the physique came without a fight, which is exactly how he likes it.

- CLOVER HOPE

Jonathan Majors does not like to take it easy.

If you ask him to become a pilot, a professional boxer or a bodybuilder for a role, the 33-year old actor will commit to several months of brutal cardio, strength training and mental conditioning until his muscles bulge and he fails his way to perfection. By the time he’s ready to perform, he will have become who he needs to be. “If I’m going to bench-press 115kg in a film, I need to be able to bench-press 125kg a few times,” he says, then corrects himself: “140kg a few times.”

On set, it’s the same story. Hand him fake weights for a scene and he’ll look at you with incredulity and tell you in the politest, sincerest tone, “You’re fucking kidding me,” as he did while playing two of the most physically demanding roles of his career: a rough-edged boxer in the latest installment of the Rocky universe, Creed III, and an asocial bodybuilder in the dark drama Magazine Dreams . For both of the projects, Majors lifted real weights during filming.

“I will do this all day. We are not putting fake weights on. I haven’t been training for the past three months to get here and use Styrofoam,” Majors says on a hot and sunny day in London. “Put these fucking weights on so we can lift it, so you can shoot it, so I can tell the story.” Respectfully, anything less is “like putting fake tears in your eyes. Or putting fake sweat on you. This is it. This is it! Let’s go”, he laughs.