Jharrel Jerome Remembers the Moment He Was Cast as a 13-Foot-Tall Giant in ‘I’m a Virgo’

Brian Welk
·3 min read
Jharrel Jerome Remembers the Moment He Was Cast as a 13-Foot-Tall Giant in ‘I’m a Virgo’
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Jharrel Jerome in “I’m a Virgo” may play a 13-foot tall giant, but as he receives accolades for his performance during this awards season, he says it’s important to remember the “little moments” along the way. The 26-year-old star is starting to dream both big and small.

“When you become an actor, I feel like you forget to dream of these little moments here. You dream of the big screen, you dream of the flashing lights, you dream about the big red carpets and the photos, but you forget about the intimate moments like this, when you get into a room with artists who are as passionate as you,” Jerome said upon accepting the Performance Prize at the IndieWire Honors ceremony on December 6. He added that he didn’t know what to expect stepping into NeueHouse Hollywood for the occasion. But seeing the intimate space, he said, “this is dope.”

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Jerome is coming off a Gotham Award nomination for his work in “I’m a Virgo,” adding that to the Emmy he won for Ava DuVernay’s limited series “When They See Us,” making him the first Afro Latino actor to win an acting prize from the Academy. He broke out in Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” and he’ll soon have a major role in the next “Spider-Verse” sequel as Miles Morales’ alternate universe counterpart.

But playing a gentle giant living in Oakland who until age 19 had been sheltered from the outside world represented unique acting challenges for Jerome. For one, he told IndieWire prior to accepting the honor that he almost never was able to look his acting partners in the eye (a drawback when you’re playing someone looming over the rest of the world). But he also had to capture Cootie’s childlike fascination, conveyed through wide-eyed wonder and soft-spoken innocence.

“For me it was more about the facial expressions. If you notice I’m making at least maybe a hundred facial expressions within a minute,” Jerome previously told us. “If you look at [young] children, they’re always trying to get their point across visually, with their face, and with their body. They honestly don’t even make sense. They’re not saying anything really. They’re not saying words that compute, but we know what they’re trying to say just based [on] their physicality.”

“I’m a Virgo” hasn’t been picked up for a second season just yet, but Jerome hopes to continue working with singular voices like director Boots Riley. He dedicated the award to Riley and said he’s a true visionary, describing the moment in which Riley sent him an email that said simply: “13-foot tall Black man from Oakland. YOU.”

“I saw the email, and I was just like, yeah right,” Jerome said.

Upon meeting him a week later, Jerome said he tried to keep things cool. “This man is pitching a story to me. This is the first time I’ve ever experienced that. I’m sitting there like, yeah, talk to me. What do you see me doing,” he tried to say, playing things casual. But he said though you know a visionary when you see one, you don’t realize when you’re speaking to them their true genius until later.

“Did he say that he was going to do it and then he did? That’s when you know,” Jerome said. “Thank you for allowing Black faces to literally be larger than life onscreen.”

“I’m a Virgo” comes from creator Riley and also stars Olivia Washington, Brett Gray, Kara Young, Allius Barnes, Carmen Ejogo, Mike Epps, Walton Goggins, and Juliette Lewis.

Jefferson spoke at NeueHouse Hollywood alongside fellow nominees Cord Jefferson, Greta Gerwig, Lee Sung Jin, Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie, Lily Gladstone, Todd Haynes, Chad Stahelski, and Melina Matsoukas.

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Veronica Flores conducted all interviews for IndieWire Honors social media videos.

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