WION Exclusive- Jharrel Jerome on Hollywood writers' strike: I'm in full support of the movement 

Hollywood actor Jharrel Jerome made his acting debut in the Oscar-winning filmMoonlight. Since then, he has come a long way. In 2019, he won his first Emmy for his performance in When They See Us. In SpiderMan: Across The Spider Verse, Jerome's voice appearance was short yet quite prominent, which is largely contrary to his latest role as Cootie in I'm a Virgo.

In his latest venture with Boots Riley, Jerome plays a 13-foot-long man who steals all the attention, even if he doesn't want to bring it on himself. During a one-on-one interaction with WION, the actor talked about his latest project, the ongoing writers' strike in Hollywood and more. Here are the excerpts from the interview.

What made you choose I'm a Virgo?

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Boots Riley (the director) actually emailed the script to me personally. Back then, the title of the script said, 13-foot-long-man in Oakland. I think once you read that you want to know more, you get very intrigued and curious as to what he meant, so once I saw that I met with him a week later and he played the division for me and told me how he wanted to execute it and it just excited me because I knew it would be a challenge.

What's the best part about playing Cootie?

I think Cootie is fun because he is not one-dimensional, he has a lot of qualities that keep jumping around, I think he is someone who is smart and intelligent, and he knows a lot but he doesn't know at all. So when he goes outside for the first time in his life, there are lots of moments which are very new to him. So playing scenes where everything felt new, everything felt different, that was fun, to tap into that young spirit and trying to bring that energy.

So, was this project relatable for you?

I find it incredibly relatable, I think Cootie is a lot like all of us, sometimes we feel different, we feel like we don't fit in, we feel like we are not welcomed, or something about us is too weird. But Cootie takes that all with pride, and he loves who he is and that makes him confident, that he knows what he needs, and who he is. So playing somebody who is always deemed as different but believes in himself, is inspiring, and I feel that part is very relatable with my real life.

You seem to be enjoying Hollywood. Can you share the best part about being in Hollywood right now?

Aah, the best part about Hollywood now, is that the weather is nice. (Laughs). No, I'm just kidding. I think the best part about being in Hollywood now is that you are part of projects that push the brain, open up conversations that are different and I think Hollywood is doing a cool job right now. The industry is introducing projects, opening up conversations that we don't speak about. It's also looking at different perspectives and different cultures.

Can you also comment on the ongoing Hollywood writers' strike?

Yeah, I support the writers' strike. I think that there are lots of changes that need to happen on the back end of projects, and there is a lot of fairness that needs to be allowed because writers are the crutch of everything we see in cinema, and there would be no film, no show without them. So I am in full support of the movement and all that needs to be done to allow the change to happen.