‘Sorry To Bother You’ Director Teases His TV Series About A 13-Foot Tall Black Man In Oakland
By Ben Pearson/June 23, 2020 3:00 pm EST
Boots Riley, the filmmaker behind 2018’s savage cinematic satire Sorry to Bother You, seems to have found his next project. Earlier today on Twitter, Riley teased that he was developing a new TV series called I’m a Virgo, which is about a 13-foot tall Black man living in Oakland, California. Whoa.
‘Sorry To Bother You’ Director Teases His TV Series About A 13-Foot Tall Black Man In Oakland
By Ben Pearson/June 23, 2020 3:00 pm EST
Boots Riley, the filmmaker behind 2018’s savage cinematic satire Sorry to Bother You, seems to have found his next project. Earlier today on Twitter, Riley teased that he was developing a new TV series called I’m a Virgo, which is about a 13-foot tall Black man living in Oakland, California. Whoa.
Earlier today on Twitter, Riley teased that he was developing a new TV series called I’m a Virgo, which is about a 13-foot tall Black man living in Oakland, California. Whoa.
I’m a Virgo Announcement
I have a show about a 13-ft tall Black man who lives in Oakland.
It’s called I’m A Virgo.
Jharrel Jerome is playing the lead.
I’m doing this w Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res. We haven’t decided on the network/streamer.
It’ll be dark, absurd, hilarious, and important. pic.twitter.com/pzOGDxMaaO
Riley, an activist musician filmmaker, has an intimate relationship with the city of Oakland. His hip-hop/punk/soul band, The Coup, is based there, it’s where Sorry to Bother You is set, and it’s ground zero for many of the issues Boots has been talking about for decades, with gentrification being a particularly big one. I wouldn’t be surprised if every project he makes is set in that area from now on, and since Oakland isn’t often seen in film and television, I’d love to see him put that city in the spotlight a little more frequently.
Jharrel Jerome, who won an Emmy for his outstanding, heartbreaking, and devastating portrayal of Korey Wise on Ava DuVernay’s powerful Netflix series When They See Us, is attached to play the lead role in I’m a Virgo, which Riley refers to as “dark, absurd, hilarious, and important.” Those descriptions may sound familiar to anyone who saw Sorry to Bother You, Riley’s bonkers feature film debut which announced him as a vital voice in the entertainment industry. I’m also excited to see more from Jerome, whose credits include Moonlight, Selah and the Spades, and the Audience Network original series Mr. Mercedes.
Riley says he’s making the show with Media Res, the production company behind the AppleTV+ series The Morning Show and the upcoming TV versions of the popular novel Pachinko and the David Cronenberg movie Scanners.
