When Michael B. Jordan first met with "Moonlight" writer Tarell Alvin McCraney, the two surprisingly discovered through an emotional conversation that both had more in common than they realized.
McCraney might jokingly attest, but Jordan said during a recent interview that their lengthy talk years ago about creating a new television project "ended in tears." That's when the "Creed" and "Black Panther" star knew he wanted to work with McCraney to develop their drama series "David Makes Man," which airs Wednesdays on Oprah Winfrey's OWN.
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When Michael B. Jordan first met with "Moonlight" writer Tarell Alvin McCraney, the two surprisingly discovered through an emotional conversation that both had more in common than they realized.
"You know like the things that he experienced growing up — family, throughout his community, the choices, the mental struggle of trying to make the right decision, trying to make the right choices, and trying to burden himself with being the man in the family taking care of everybody," he continued. "Trying to fix everything for everyone and putting yourself last. To actually hear somebody else say it, I'm like 'Wow, OK.' I'm not the only person that thinks like that or feels that way."
"MBJ and I didn't grow up in the same environment and yet we were burdened with some of the same intersections," said McCraney, who won an Academy Award for co-writing "Moonlight," an adaption of his play "Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue."
McCraney said David is very different than Chiron, the main character in "Moonlight." He said the series will explore David's multiple personas, calling it "code switch."
"This show is to let kids know that you're not alone," he said. "It's OK to cry sometimes. It's OK to scream sometimes just to let it go, because you need that to vent. Also, the power of imagination. That's what helps people survive out here."
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"It was the first time honestly that I actually heard my own internal thoughts through somebody else," said Jordan, who is a co-executive producer of the series through his Outlier Society Productions company along with Winfrey.
Michael B. Jordan, an executive producer of the OWN series "David Makes Man," poses for a portrait during the 2019 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton, Friday, July 26, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)
"You know like the things that he experienced growing up — family, throughout his community, the choices, the mental struggle of trying to make the right decision, trying to make the right choices, and trying to burden himself with being the man in the family taking care of everybody," he continued. "Trying to fix everything for everyone and putting yourself last. To actually hear somebody else say it, I'm like 'Wow, OK.' I'm not the only person that thinks like that or feels that way."
"David Makes Man" is partially based on McCraney's upbringing. The series follows 14-year-old David, played by Akili McDowell, who tries to juggle relationships between his magnet school friends and drug dealers in his South Florida impoverished neighborhood.
McCraney said he felt more confident about the project after meeting with Jordan.
Akili McDowell, a cast member in the OWN series "David Makes Man," poses for a portrait during the 2019 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton, Friday, July 26, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)
"MBJ and I didn't grow up in the same environment and yet we were burdened with some of the same intersections," said McCraney, who won an Academy Award for co-writing "Moonlight," an adaption of his play "Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue."
"That means that there are more people around the world who indeed need space at the hearth," he added. "We all need the warmth of these stories to remind ourselves and see ourselves better. That was one of the reasons why we wanted to be at OWN as well. We wanted to be amongst stories about black people. This show is black — blackity, black, black, black."
The story explores David's childhood trauma after the death of his close friend and mentor, Sky, who was a drug dealer. His former drug-addict mother also relies on him to find a way out of poverty through higher education.
Tarell Alvin McCraney, creatorexecutive producer of the OWN series "David Makes Man," poses for a portrait during the 2019 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton, Friday, July 26, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)
McCraney said David is very different than Chiron, the main character in "Moonlight." He said the series will explore David's multiple personas, calling it "code switch."
"'Moonlight' has a deep vantage point of me growing up and finding my queer identity. ... But David is night and day different than Chiron," McCraney said. "(David) walks into a school, I'm a new person. He walks out of school, I'm another person. I'm in front of the drug boys, I'm a different person. That dexterity to me is a whole avenue of humanity that we experience in the black community that we don't talk about, that we haven't talked about. At least I haven't seen it."
McDowell said David uses his vivid imagination to endure life's challenges. His character randomly holds animated conversations with an imaginary sky.
Akili McDowell, a cast member in the OWN series "David Makes Man," poses for a portrait during the 2019 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton, Friday, July 26, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)
"This show is to let kids know that you're not alone," he said. "It's OK to cry sometimes. It's OK to scream sometimes just to let it go, because you need that to vent. Also, the power of imagination. That's what helps people survive out here."
Jordan said McDowell, 16, has grown as an actor and took hold of the lead role.
"I see a lot of myself in him," Jordan said. "Honestly, like watching his tapes and going through the whole process and camera reads and casting process, which is not easy by any means for a young talent like himself. But he was resilient. He came to work every day. You can see him progress."
Akili McDowell, a cast member in the OWN series "David Makes Man," poses for a portrait during the 2019 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton, Friday, July 26, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MrLandrum31
Tarell Alvin McCraney, creatorexecutive producer of the OWN series "David Makes Man," poses for a portrait during the 2019 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton, Friday, July 26, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris PizzelloInvisionAP)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A big, new package of U.S. military aid will help Ukraine avoid defeat in its war with Russia. Winning will still be a long slog.
The arms and ammunition in the $61 billion military aid package should enable Ukraine to slow the Russian army's bloody advances and block its strikes on troops and civilians. And it will buy Ukraine time — for long-term planning about how to take back the fifth of the country now under Russian control.
“Ultimately it offers Ukraine the prospect of staying in the war this year,” said Michael Clarke, visiting professor in war studies at King’s College London. “Sometimes in warfare you’ve just got to stay in it. You’ve just got to avoid being rolled over.”
The U.S. House of Representatives approved the package on Saturday after months of delays by some Republicans wary of U.S. involvement overseas. It was passed by the Senate on Tuesday, and President Joe Bidensigned it into law on Wednesday.
The difference could be felt within days on the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russia’s much larger army has been slowly taking territory against massively outgunned Ukrainian forces.
The aid approval means Ukraine may be able to release artillery ammunition from dwindling stocks that it has been rationing. More equipment will come soon from American stocks in Poland and Germany, and later from the U.S.
The first shipments are expected to arrive by the beginning of next week, said Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.
But opposition lawmaker Vadym Ivchenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament’s National Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee, said logistical challenges and bureaucracy could delay shipments to Ukraine by two to three months, and it would be even longer before they reach the front line.
While details of the shipments are classified, Ukraine’s most urgent needs are artillery shells to stop Russian troops from advancing, and anti-aircraft missiles to protect people and infrastructure from missiles, drones and bombs.
What’s coming first is not always what front-line commanders need most, said Arakhamia, the Ukrainian lawmaker. He said that even a military giant like the U.S. does not have stockpiles of everything.
“The logic behind this first package was, you (the U.S.) finds our top priorities and then you see what you have in the warehouses,” Arakhamia said. “And sometimes they do not match.”
Hope for future breakthroughs for Ukraine still hangs on more timely deliveries of Western aid, lawmakers acknowledge.
Many experts believe that both Ukraine and Russia are exhausted by two years of war and won’t be able to mount a major offensive — one capable of making big strategic gains — until next year.
Still, Russia is pushing forward at several points along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front, using tanks, wave after wave of infantry troops and satellite-guided gliding bombs to pummel Ukrainian forces. Russia is also hitting power plants and pounding Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, which is only about 30 kilometers (some 20 miles) from the Russian border.
Ivchenko said the goal for Ukraine’s forces now is to “hold the line” until the bulk of new supplies arrive by mid-summer. Then, they can focus on trying to recapture territory recently lost in the Donetsk region.
“And probably ... at the end of summer we’ll see some movement, offensive movement of the Ukrainian armed forces,” he said.
Some military experts doubt Ukraine has the resources to mount even small offensives very soon.
The U.S. funding “can probably only help stabilize the Ukrainian position for this year and begin preparations for operations in 2025,” said Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank.
In the best-case scenario for Ukraine, the American aid will give commanders time to reorganize and train its army — applying lessons learned from its failed summer 2023 offensive. It may also galvanize Ukraine’s allies in Europe to increase aid.
“So this just wasn’t about Ukraine and the United States, this really affected our entire 51-country coalition,” said U.S. Congressman Bill Keating, a Democrat who visited Kyiv on Monday as part of a four-member congressional delegation.
Zelenskyy insists Ukraine's war aim is to recapture all its territory from Russia — including Crimea, seized illegally in 2014. Even if the war ultimately ends through negotiation, as many experts believe, Ukraine wants to do that from as strong a position as possible.
Whatever happens on the battlefield, Ukraine still faces variables beyond its control.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who seeks to retake the White House in the November election, has said he would end the war within days of taking office. And the 27-nation Europe Union includes leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who have opposed arming Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies have held back from supplying some arms out of concern about escalation or depleting their own stocks. Ukraine says that to win the war it needs longer-range missiles it could use for potentially game-changing operations such as cutting off occupied Crimea, where's Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.
Ukraine especially wants a longer-range version of Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMS, from the U.S., along with Taurus cruise missiles from Germany. Both governments have resisted calls to send them because they are capable of striking targets deep within Russian territory.
The new bill authorizes Biden to send Ukraine ATACMS that have a range of some 300 kilometers (190 miles) “as soon as practicable.”
On Wednesday, American officials revealed that the U.S. already secretly transferred a number of the longer-range missiles to Ukraine last month, and they were used for the first time last week to strike an airfield in occupied Crimea. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the delivery before it became public.
Meanwhile, Russia is using its advantage in troops and weapons to push back Ukrainian forces, perhaps seeking to make maximum gains before Ukraine's new supplies arrive.
For weeks it has pummeled the small eastern city of Chasiv Yar, suffering heavy losses. Britain's Ministry of Defense says 900 Russian troops are being killed or injured a day in the war.
Capturing the strategically important hill town would allow them to move toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, key cities Ukraine controls in the eastern region of Donetsk. It would be a significant win for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Western officials say is bent on toppling Ukraine’s pro-Western government.
Russian pressure was aimed not just at gaining territory, but on undermining Zelenskyy and bolstering critics who say his war plan is failing, said Clarke of King's College London.
The U.S. aid package decreases the likelihood of a political crisis in Ukraine, and U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson deserves credit for pushing it through Congress, he said.
"He held history in his hands,” Clarke said.
This story has been updated to correct Orbán's title, the Slovak prime minister's name and that the British estimate of daily Russian losses is for the war, not one battle.
Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Tara Copp contributed from Washgington.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
From left, U.S. representatives Nathaniel Moran, R-Tx, Tom Kean Jr, R-NJ, Bill Keating, D-Mass, and Madeleine Deane, D-Pa, talk to journalists during a joint news conference outside Saint Michael cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. A newly approved package of $61 billion in U.S. aid may prevent Ukraine from losing its war against Russia. But winning it will be a long slog. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A volunteer makes a camouflage net at a facility producing material for Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. A newly approved package of $61 billion in U.S. aid may prevent Ukraine from losing its war against Russia. But winning it will be a long slog. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party, talks during an interview with Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A woman rallies to raise awareness on the fate of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Ribbons with the colors of the European Union and Ukraine are attached to a tree next to memorial wall of Ukrainian soldiers killed during the war in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
The body of a woman killed by Russian bombardment in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Soldiers carry the coffins of two Ukrainian army sergeants during their funeral in Lviv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
