When EW caught up with Majors at the film festival, he was on top of the world.
“I’m humbled, I’m excited.
I’m full of energy for it.”
Jonathan Majors in ‘Magazine Dreams’.Credit: Everett Collection
Just months later, it all went away.
“Nobody has to go see the movie.
There was due process.
Paul Rudd and Jonathan Majors in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania’.Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios
He paid the price, and then, we move on.”
For Majors, that price amounted to probation and a 52-week domestic violence intervention program.
“What do you get at the end of a 52-week domestic violence course?
Jonathan Majors and Tom Ortenberg.Eric Charbonneau/Briarcliff Entertainment via Getty
Do the victims get a debrief?
How could I know if he’s changed?
I would say I hope and pray you see it because there’s something there.
Jonathan Majors and Meagan Good.Rodin Eckenroth/Getty
That’s got nothing to do with me.
We are going to grow.
And we’re going to heal.
Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors in ‘Creed III’.Eli Ade/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
It may not seem all good now, but it’s not over yet.”
I need to talk…I can only control my thoughts, my actions, and myself.
Everything else is completely none of my business."
Elijah Bynum and Jonathan Majors.Alberto E. Rodriguez/Variety via Getty
“The version of me that would come back to those places would be different,” he insists.
“I don’t think anything different would happen between ‘action’ and ‘cut.’
That’s why I got the job.
But as I said, it’s not in my control.”
“Where do we draw the line?
Should I say if they shot somebody on Fifth Avenue?”
Ortenberg jokes, referencing afamous quotefrom the subject of his previous film.
“To answer the question, I don’t know.
I consider myself a free-speech absolutist.
Some people say those words but don’t really mean it.
Is there a line to be drawn somewhere?
We could hold it in our hands.
We know what it is.
It is, in my view, without question, a quality awards-caliber film.”
We don’t just pick up movies because they’re controversial.
We don’t pick up movies so that somebody will write stories about us.
We pick up movies because we have a business to run.
And we’re a small company; we do our best, but we can’t track everything."
Whatever the internal calculus, Majors is just glad to see the film coming to theaters.
“I’m extremely grateful that the film is coming out.
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Whether that audience shows up remains to be seen.
“I saw theRolling Stonearticle,” Ortenberg says.
“What the impact of that is, I don’t know.
It felt to me there wasn’t a lot of news there.
But again, that’s not for me to decide.
With the film in theaters today, audiences finally have that chance.
