[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for I’m a Virgo.]From creator Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You), the Amazon Studios series I’m a Virgo tells the uniquely fantastical coming-of-age story of Cootie (Jharrel Jerome), a 13-foot-tall young Black man in Oakland, California, whose childlike wonder is quickly threatened by the way the real world perceives him. Hidden away as a child, Cootie just wants to find friendship and love, but when he encounters his real-life superhero idol The Hero (Walton Goggins), he realizes that rather than being a part of everyone else’s agenda, it’s up to him to determine his own destiny.
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During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Jerome talked about why he was so impressed with Riley’s vision for the series, collaborating on bringing Cootie to life, the challenges of shooting with forced perspective, figuring out the character dynamics while not being able to directly interact with his co-stars, having a giant puppet and small character figures on set, his hope to continue telling this story, wanting to branch out behind the scenes with writing and directing, and why he’s so selective thoughtful about the projects he wants to be a part of.

Collider: This show is my kind of weird and wonderful.

JHARREL JEROME: Great. I’m glad you think so.

Image via Amazon Studios

The idea and the concept for this show is wild. It seems crazy and insane. But then, when you hear it was created by Boots Riley, it all makes sense. When this project came your way, did you immediately see it? Did you need to have some conversations about it? What was your reaction to it?

JEROME: The way it came about for me was that Boots personally emailed me and the title of the email said, “13-foot tall Black man in Oakland.” Like anybody else would be, I was like, “I’m sorry, what did you just say?” And so, I responded immediately and we set up a meeting, probably a week later. He sat down and he pitched the entire idea to me, and I was floored. I was shocked. More than how impressed I was with his idea and how creative and out the box it was, I was super impressed with his vision for executing it and how he wanted to shoot it in forced perspective and do it all practically, and allow it to still remain in the real world. For me, that just made me confident that he had something special.

I’m a big fan of you and your work, and you’ve been so good in everything that I’ve seen you do. I went into this knowing to expect something crazy because it’s Boots Riley, but I also knew that it would be of a certain level because of the work I’ve seen you do. What was it like to work with Boots Riley on this, and to really collaborate on the vision and figure out how to do it?

JEROME: It was a lot of figuring out the nuances of Cootie. Studying to play somebody 13 feet tall is hard because there’s nothing to take from and nothing to be inspired by, at all. I didn’t just call seven foot tall guys and ask, “How is it, being that tall?” It was really about sitting down and dissecting the small things that made Cootie, Cootie. It was that naïveté and that youthful energy and the bright-eyed spirit that he carried with him. Once I was able to figure that out and embody that, a lot of it came naturally, especially with the way he’s always hunched over. His walk was specific. His voice was specific. Crafting that with Boots was very necessary, for sure.

One of the things that’s just so fascinating to watch with this is that balance of this big guy and how everything about him, because of his size, feels larger than life, and all the small nuances that you’re playing and all these little layers of things.

JEROME: That’s the thing about Cootie. If you watch, you could see a million different facial expressions on Cootie’s face and, and that was very purposeful, on my end. Most times, Cootie doesn’t know where his face should go and how it should be. That was the fun with him. He is always trying to fit in the ways he thinks are correct. That’s what makes him so lovable.

Image via Amazon Studios

At any point in reading this, did you ever wonder how this could ever actually get made?

JEROME: Yeah, a couple of times. There was even a time when Boots came up to me and was like, “Hey, man, if you ever think about doing a show and you wanna do forced perspective, don’t.” And that was maybe day 30 of 60, on set. There were a lot of grueling efforts and a lot of patience was required. I definitely believed in Boots. And once I found out that we were working with Amazon, that excited us even more because we believed that we’d be able to be supported the way we needed to be. It all just came together and, by the end, we all looked at each other and it felt like we won a championship game.

What was it like, the first time you walked onto the set and had to figure out how to do all of this? Does it take a lot of adjustment to figure out how all of that will work?

JEROME: Yeah, it definitely took a little while. In the beginning, after Boots would call, “Cut!,” I’d go up to him and be like, “Okay, how did that go?” My brain was split in two, trying to remember the lines and the choices, and then the technical elements of it all. There were a lot of mental gymnastics.

It’s not weird to think that someone who has been so sheltered would be a bit childlike when he first ventures out into the world. How did you approach figuring out how you wanted to play that, so that he never comes across as silly or stupid?

JEROME: Thank you for that. That was the trick. That was the fine line that I was trying to play with. Cootie is very smart. He’s intelligent and he’s well-read. He’s 19 years old, but he’s still a 13-year-old boy on the inside. He still has so much to learn. Especially when he’s outside and he meets Flora and his friends, these are people that are challenging what he knows in life. It was about pulling from moments in my life, where I felt naive in certain moments and I’m in a space where I thought I’d feel confident, but when I get there, I actually have no idea what I’m feeling because this is not what I thought it’d be like. And so, it was just pulling from some personal experiences, as well as leaning on the characteristics that a child would have. A lot of that is walking around with bright eyes and wonderment, and everything is a discovery, and being very adamant about the challenges that you’re given. And then, also, the traits of a Virgo were very important – the self-confidence in knowing something is true and the organizational skills. All of those things helped form who Cootie was.

Image via Amazon Studios

What was it like, from an acting standpoint, to figure out all of these different character dynamics, with the parents, with the love story, and with Hero, while also being a bit detached on set because of the forced perspective?

JEROME: A lot of that came from rehearsals and times off set. Boots is a great director, for many reasons, but one specific reason is that he was adamant about making sure that all the cast members connected and got to know each other on a level that was beyond us just getting together to make a project. A lot of the dynamic came from really setting up personal time, and then latching onto certain memories from that personal time. I’d sit in my own world, alone on set, and I’d have an earpiece in, while all the friends were doing the scene. We’re all in the same scene and I can hear them making the jokes, and because I spent so much time with them off set, I can see the faces that they’re making and I’m putting a face to the voices that I’m hearing. That all came from trusting each other and connecting with each other beforehand.

How was it to find this very odd, interesting, layered relationship between Cootie and Hero?

JEROME: For Cootie, the Hero goes from the person that he loves the most to the person that he hates the most. He becomes his hero, and then becomes his enemy, all in the span of a few episodes. It was really cool, playing with the idea of Walton Goggins character in my head. It was interesting because, in real life, I didn’t get to spend too much time with Walton. There were a lot of moments when we were separate. Even the moments when we’re together, the tricks were very necessary, so he was working with my doll a lot and I was working with his doll, which looked like an action figure. We didn’t have time to connect, but I think that informs the relationship even more, and it was better. There are some relationships where it’s necessary for the actors to get involved, and then there are some relationships where it’s necessary for the actors to stay separate. Me and Walton stayed pretty separate. That allowed me to not understand the Hero so much. Cootie gets really mind blown by the Hero. It’s hard to really love something so much, and then be so hurt by it. The way the Hero is viewed by Cootie become so misconstrued and so misunderstood, so having Walton there on set, knowing his energy and his presence is there, but it’s still a foreign one to me, definitely helped me inform my relationship with the Hero.

Boots Riley has talked about having a puppet of Cootie. Do you know where that puppet went? Where does it live now?

JEROME: Apparently, there are two puppets and they’re both in a warehouse somewhere, locked up. I like to think there are security guards outside the door, protecting it. It’s somewhere, waiting for some more action, hopefully.

Image via Amazon Studios

Is this something that you’d like to explore some more and dig deeper into?

JEROME: Yeah, I think so. Cootie’s story is larger than life, and you can never get every single point across. Boots knows how to fit so many conversations into one, but there a lot of conversations that, by the end of episode seven, are left unfinished. I think it would be exciting to see a continuation of the story, and I think that the world will agree, after watching the season.

With something like this, to pull off this project, it seems like you’d have to really be involved and collaborate on a creative level, more than maybe you would on other projects that you’ve done. When you do something where you are so much more involved, and you see what Boots Riley and this creative team does on set, does it inspired you to want to try your hand at directing?

JEROME: One hundred percent. It made me want to try my hand in writing, as well. Boots is the kind of creative who is willing to come up with the wildest idea, and then stick with it and not throw it away, just because it’s a bit too wild. For any artist, no matter what medium of art you do, it’s inspiring to know that you can push the needle a bit and be confident enough to do it. If you’re strong enough in your opinion and in your vision, you will have people that back you up. Seeing that definitely inspired me. I know that if I attempt to write a script, or attempt to direct, I would wanna do it in the vein of not being put in a box, the way Boots is able to do it.

You seem selective and deliberate about the projects that you choose. When something comes your way that you’re looking at and considering, do you know immediately whether it’s something you want to do and be a part of? Are you someone who takes time to think and ruminate on it, or do you know right away?

JEROME: I’m definitely a thinker. I’m an over thinker. I think that’s a big reason why I have been away from the screen for a while. Projects like I’m a Virgo, Moonlight, and When They See Us don’t come along often. Those are projects that come out once in a blue moon, so patience is obviously required. I just wanna be challenged. I don’t wanna just go on set and read a couple lines and go, “Oh, that was fun.” I really appreciate the idea of acting being something that pushes the human being, and pushes the mental and emotional side of the human being. So, yeah, I definitely take my time. I care about who directs, I care about who writes, I care about who produces, and I care about the story and how the script makes me feel. There are a lot of things. I’ve been blessed and spoiled to be in a position where I can sit back and be like, “Hmm, that’s a good one. Let’s try to talk to them.” I’m happy to be in this position. If God and the universe has put me in a position where I can do this, I wanna do it right.

Image via Amazon Studios

Is that something that you’ve always felt? Did you also want to be selective in that way, or did you not have that luxury at the start of your career?

JEROME: No way. Five years ago, I would have been in everything and anything. I would have done anything. I had no idea that I would be able to be in this position That’s why, now that I am, I wanna make sure that I’m executing it the right way. Having conversations like this and being in a position like this is something I could have never dreamed of. It’s only something I would have worked for.

Is that the moment when it shifts from being a job to being a craft?

JEROME: Absolutely. That’s the point of me being so selective. I always want it to feel like a craft and feel like art. There are a lot of movies and a lot of shows, and every set is a beautiful set because you have a ton of strangers coming together and creating art, but not every set is driven by passion and not every set is driven by an authentic urge to tell a story that changes or inspires people. And so, if I can keep hanging onto the ones that do, then I’ll feel lucky and blessed. A lot of the actors that I look up to have done exactly that. If you look at a lot of Denzel Washington’s early credits, you can see how specific he was being and how selective he was being in his choices, and how he always found himself surrounded by a strong group of creatives.

I would imagine that you also want to keep it interesting for yourself.

JEROME: Yeah, and not do the same sort of things. I love the idea of longevity. I’m here for the long run. I think being smart about my choices now will allow me to have a bit more fun and freedom down the line. I’d rather save the fun, simpler things for down the line. Maybe when I’m just chilling, I can go, “Oh, I did it already. Let me go have some fun right now.” I just wanna push myself, and then prove to the world and the industry that I wanna be here to stay.

I’m a Virgo is available to stream at Prime Video.