Boots Riley will be at the helm of Amazon’s new series I’m a Virgo with Emmy Award-winning When They See Us actor Jharrel Jerome in the lead role.
Riley co-wrote the series and will be directing each episode.
“This is happening… Shout out to @jharreljerome, who we all know is a young master of his craft that has much in him to amaze us. I’ll be directing all the episodes,” Riley wrote in an Instagram post, in which he also praised showrunner Tze Chun and the writing staff.
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Jerome will also serve as an executive producer along with Riley, Michael Ellenberg of Media Res, and Chun.
Variety reports the half-hour series will be a coming-of-age story about an Oakland man who is 13 feet tall.
“I’m thrilled to be working with Amazon on this project,” Riley said in a statement. “This show will either have me lauded or banned, and as such, I have demanded payment up front.”
The 49-year-old rapper and filmmaker rose to prominence as a founding member of political hip-hop group The Coup.
Two years ago, he made his feature film directorial debut with the critically acclaimed satire, Sorry to Bother You, which starred Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson. The film revolves around Oakland telemarketer Cassius Green (Stanfield) and has themes of capitalism and false consciousness. Riley wrote and directed the film about social issues in his hometown. Sorry to Bother You, which has a 93 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, won Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards last year.
Jerome won an Emmy Award for best actor in a limited series last year for his performance in Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us.
The image above is courtesy of Shutterstock.
