Prime Video gains momentum in 2020 I’m a virginnew, “absurdist, fantasy attraction” and satirical series from Sorry to bother you director, Riley’s boots. Starring Emmy Award Winner Jarrel Jerome (When they see us) as a 13-foot man living in Oakland, California, details of the 7-episode series are still kept next to Riley’s chest. He doesn’t talk too much about the plot, but he does share with us what went into making the show.
During the Sundance Film Festival, Boots Riley visited the Collider Studio presented by Saratoga Spring Water in Park City and spoke with the Editor-in-Chief, Steve WeintraubO I’m a virgin ahead of its world premiere at South by Southwest. He left the series’ explanation vague, but talked about the amazing talent involved with the project, especially Jerome’s performance. In addition to Moonlight star, I’m a virgin An ensemble cast will be presented, which includes Mike Epps, Carmen Ejogo, Walton Goggins, Kara Young, Brett Grayand more.
In his interview, Riley spoke about tuning yards and his group coupwho provide the score and soundtrack to I’m a virgin. He also discusses what he called his “cinematic album” which will add three more features to the director’s filmography, future cameos with LaKeith Stanfield And Elijah Wood, and talks about using practical effects instead of CGI when filming its 13-foot protagonist, and how that decision influenced the storyboarding of this elaborate series. For all the details at I’m a virginyou can watch the interview in the player above or read the full transcript below.
COLLIDER: I’m here with Boots Riley who has an upcoming Prime Video series due out - I don’t really know when it’s coming out, when is it coming out? Can’t you tell?
RILEY BOOTS: [Shakes head] But we will present it at another festival, South by Southwest. So then you start hearing people’s reactions to it.
I have tons of questions about this series, but for people who aren’t familiar with your work - and you’ve done a lot of work in your career - where would you like people to start? Do you want them to start with the feature you made?
RILEY: I think it’s a good starting point, it’s a feature and then they can go listen to an album called Choose a bigger weapon. Then they can go to an album called Genocide and juice. You know there are many. That’s why I made the movie, it’s something you can sit down and watch, and we also made the soundtrack for it. Tune-Yards made the score, but [The Coup] made the soundtrack. Tune-Yards also writes music for my TV show.
Let’s jump into it. It is called I’m a virginand how do you describe it?
RILEY: So it’s an absurd, fantastic ride with a 13-foot black man who lives in Oakland, California. It is called I’m a virgin. That’s what’s important to him about himself. You see a giant black man walking down the street, for a lot of people it doesn’t matter to them, the fact that he’s a Virgo, but that’s what’s important to him. Jharrel Jerome is doing an amazing job and people will look at him differently after that.
We also have Walton Goggins, Mike Epps, Carmen, Ejogo, and some other people that people would consider a revelation; Kara Young, Brett Grey, which many people under 20 would not consider a revelation, but many people do. They all do amazing work. Then we even have a lot of really cool cameos from Kendrick Sampson, Elijah Wood, Lakeeth. [Stanfield]. I mean, it’s just full of a bunch of cool shit. I could go on. I’m going to forget people.
I would submit after Sorry to bother you that many people called or wanted to meet with you to discuss: “What do you want to do next?” So what was it about this story that said, “Here’s what I want to do next”?
RILEY: I had this idea, and three more films, and they’re all coming, but this one comes out first. Many times you will be writing things and it’s really about things lining up in time. So basically, I’m doing what I call a cinematic album, Sorry to bother you is the first single and the 1st season I’m a virgin this is the second one and then it includes three of my other films. So it’s all part of a bigger plan. It’s not one universe, these films, but it’s a rather strange take on the world from my point of view.
Making a feature film is very different from making a television series. So, did you enjoy the experience of making TV in the spirit of, “Wow, I really want to do more TV now that I’ve experienced it”? Because it’s completely different.
RILEY: It’s completely different. This is completely different. I think I’m a fan of stories that end, so TV isn’t necessarily what I want to be, but the way we do it is different. I really don’t like shows where they just keep you hooked and make you move just to keep going. After a while, you feel like, “Oh, you really don’t care what you say as long as I watch next time.” As a viewer, I feel offended by this and therefore I don’t want to do that kind of thing. I think TV shows have a lot more bureaucracy than feature films. You know, it’s a different animal. I don’t think it should be, but that’s the way it is.
If I may ask how many episodes I’m a virgin?
RILEY: It’s already seven.
Is this a number you came up with based on history?
RILEY: I like the number seven. I love it when it’s upside down and I love the way it looks, I love the angle it makes and so I thought, “Whatever I do, it’s going to be seven.” I’m just kidding. No, no, I mean, I didn’t come up with the number. It’s just how it ends.
Sometimes the studio says, “We’re interested in six episodes,” but history dictates that I want to do seven.
RILEY: You have more experience with this than I do because I don’t know. It’s my first time on a TV show and I try to stay ignorant about certain things because my brain… You know, like Sherlock Holmes, he doesn’t let all the information into his head.
Your main character, your character, is 13 feet tall. What is it like trying to make it happen?
RILEY: That’s part of the answer to your first question, “Why this first?” We’ve done most of the practical stuff, ie forced perspective, puppets, we also have stop-motion in the show. We have all kinds of things and so I want to make the process fun. And now that being said, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have visuals, but it actually doesn’t have CGI. There might be a couple of little things in there, but I really feel that with CGI you could have a computer skyscraper that gets up and walks around and shits and that wouldn’t be amazing, right? And it has to be amazing, and that’s why you have to use practical things so that when this building collapses, you say, “I can feel it, I can see the textures” and all that stuff.
At the same time, I had to do everything on two scales, right? We had to build a half-scale that, a full-scale that and all that. I don’t want to get too deep into how sausage is made until people see it, because I don’t want everyone to think about it, and the amazing thing about it is that you see it and just feel the difference. You don’t necessarily like, “Oh, I see they did this, and I see they did that.”
Look, I commend you because practicality is always the way to go. Because you believe it, you see it.
RILEY: After all, it takes a lot more preparation. So in order to do it with the budget we needed, we had to plan well. We had to storyboard almost everything, almost every show in advance, so we could say, “This is what we have to build. Here are the lenses we’ll need…” Stuff like that. Because if we were, let’s say, another show on the same network with a billion dollar budget, then we could just do it a lot faster and just build everything in both sizes, and then we wouldn’t have to prepare so much, we could just go out for lunch and then start shooting.
I actually think that preparation probably adds a lot, makes you really think about every frame, and do you really need it?
RILEY: Exactly.
You mentioned that you are working on other features. As a big fan of your first feature -
RILEY: I can’t talk about it, but if you’re a big fan of the first movie, the same guys are doing this show, right? I’m always looking for ways to chat and that’s the most important thing for me. I want to say the shit I’m about to say, and whether it’s here with you, or in music on stage, or in movies, or on TV, that’s the vehicle. I really think that people should have a passion, something they care about more than making art. Because this is what drives you and helps you decide: “What kind of shots am I going to do, is it good? It is important?” Otherwise, you will be asking everyone else. You still ask everyone else, but you need your own divination wands.
100%. Actually I wanted to ask, do you think you will be in front of the cameras this year?
RILEY: In front of the cameras?
So you think you’ll be making your next film this year?
RILEY: Oh yes, yes, but if I get in front of him, I’ll ruin the shot.
You know what, I said it wrong, but I want to say that I’m looking forward to I’m a virgin, and I’m also looking forward to what you’re going to do next.
RILEY: We’re going to shoot other things this year.
Look man, I can’t wait to see him, honestly, and I hope to be at SXSW to see him when he plays.
RILEY: I’ll tell you what, whatever you think, it’s a little crazier. Now imagine that this is a little crazier than that.
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Source: Collider
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