- 7 hours ago
Jerome called his role in Ava Duvernay's Netflix miniseries "the most challenging role I've taken on, and probably the most challenging experience I’ve put myself through."
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Hey, what's up? It's Jerrel Jerome, and I'm in studio with The Hollywood Reporter.
00:08It's so nice to see you again. We met briefly at the Oprah Winfrey event for
00:14When They See Us, so it's nice to see you. And I have to tell you, not much has
00:17happened in my life since that day. It's been business as usual, nothing at all.
00:21But the same cannot be said for you. Tell me what your life has been
00:26like these past few weeks. I couldn't. I really couldn't. Having grasped the idea
00:33or the past few weeks, I feel like I've been dreaming. I felt like that night at
00:36Oprah, I fell asleep on the couch and I just didn't wake up. But it's been a
00:42blessing. It's been it's been a beautiful ride. It feels like a really incredible
00:47accomplishment more than anything. But before the nominations came out, I already
00:50felt like the work that needed to be done was done for those men. Corey Wise
00:56himself came up to me and said, you did it, you know, simple words, but you did it.
00:59And that affirmation right there was was the nomination of anything. So to have
01:03the nomination as well on top of that feeling, it's just I'm ecstatic and I'm
01:09so proud to be a part of this project and for my first major recognition to be
01:15this project and for this role that that means the world to me.
01:19And so take me back to the day you were nominated for an Emmy for your role in
01:23this and when they see us. Where were you? How did you get the news?
01:27So I was I was in New York City, which is where I'm from. So I got to be back
01:31in my
01:32city, but I was in a restaurant. I was with my manager and I was with some
01:36friends from high school who I've known for a very long time. And my mom was
01:39coming out of work in an oop. She was like leaving work early like screw this. I'm
01:43coming to see you if you know if it happens or not. So she was in a car on the
01:47way over. And I had my phone out and I was watching it live and I put it up on
01:53the thing just because yeah I've never I didn't even know those kind of shows
01:58happen where you had a show for the Emmy nominations. So I was like okay I'll
02:01watch it and we watched it. And it was funny because I was terrified. I was just
02:06terrified. It was a weird feeling to have. The moment before is just this your
02:11heart is pounding. You know you know you've been in conversations. You know you've
02:13been in the talks and you just don't know what's gonna happen. So I remember my
02:19legs shaking so bad to the point where I was like I gotta like this looks weird in
02:23this restaurant. I look so scared. And my manager was trying to calm me down.
02:28Perry was like she said relax it's okay. Your category won't be set first. It'll
02:33probably be set in the middle of the show so we can breathe you know just drink
02:37your water. Everything's okay. My category was the very first category to be
02:41spoken. Like this right off the bat started with just lead actor in a
02:46miniseries. So I was like this is just doesn't know why why. And yeah they went
02:52through the names and I believe my name was the fourth or fifth name said. So
02:56it's like you know names of everyone I'm inspired by are being said. And I'm like
02:59this is crazy. And they said my name and freaked out.
03:04Take me back to the to the beginning of joining this project. I remember the
03:08night with Oprah and Ava on stage where the subject of your beard came up a lot
03:15and how it almost you know sort of ruined your chances for this. So tell me about
03:20how the audition came to you and how your beard screwed it up.
03:26Almost screwed it up.
03:28The story is I auditioned for Young Cory. That was what was the you know the
03:33plan and and the goal was to try to book Young Cory. Not old and nothing about
03:39that just on that part. So I auditioned for it via self tape because I was living
03:43down south working on a project and I taped it with the beard. So Ava
03:48appreciated the tape she liked it but her one note was can you send it back
03:51without a beard. And so we try to get the production that I was working on to
03:56clear it and make that happen but we couldn't just being tied into the script
03:59being in the middle of the season. And so for four months at least four months I
04:03was just freaking out every day. Just my team they were checking in with the
04:07casting department and making sure they hadn't casted Cory. And for months she
04:11hadn't casted Cory. It was it was it was weird how that aligned you know she had
04:17been casting every other part. Every other part was being taken and then Cory was
04:19still was still empty. And so when I wrapped the show my team called Ava and made
04:27sure like even if she was in Beijing or Russia or wherever she was I was gonna
04:30fly over there shaving my beard on the flight and then going to this meeting
04:35with Ava. And Ava accepted the meeting she said yeah I'll see him. So I she
04:39actually had been in New York so it was perfect timing. I came from Charleston to
04:43New York and I shaved and I went in to speak with her and she looked at me like
04:49she saw a ghost. She was like well who are you? What is this? And then she goes how you
04:53know how old are you because I thought you were 30 years old. At the time I was 20
04:58so I said I'm 20 and she was like wow okay read the part. And so I did the young
05:05Cory sides and then she goes great now read these and it's the older Cory sides
05:10which threw me for a loop because I just shaved my beard and now I'm about to read
05:13the older Cory sides. But I guess she had this vision when I walked in and yeah the
05:18next day she ended up calling me and said it's really impressive how you can look
05:21super young without the beard but also look very old with the beard and so I
05:27want to challenge you and put you to the test and see if you can portray him at
05:30both ages. You said that that once you found his voice is when it happened for
05:36you. Tell me more about that process of being able to lock that in and and sort
05:41of where you went as an actor to find out who Cory Wise was. Yeah absolutely it was um it
05:47was incredibly difficult.
05:48Most the most challenging role I've taken on and probably the most challenging just
05:52experience I've put myself through or allowed myself to go through. It was a
05:56multi-step process you know it was like um one day I'm working on this side of him
06:00one day I'm working on this side of him and it was a lot of research it was a lot
06:04of watching footage over and over and then I worked with a vocal coach for about a
06:08month and a half just on dialect and on how to adopt the Harlem speech and Cory's so
06:13unique you know if you watch that um Oprah uh special you'll see how unique he is and
06:20no one is like him at all and so I think that in order to have fully embodied Cory
06:25the only thing that was right and fair was to capture that voice and so like
06:30like you said once I found that voice that's where I felt extremely comfortable
06:35it almost led into the body it's almost like it started with the voice and then
06:38it almost naturally went into how he moved and how he acted and how he was as a
06:42person. And at what point did you meet him? Very early on we met at the table read
06:46so Ava brought the men out to the table read to the cast reading of episodes one
06:50and two so I got to meet him the first time I read Cory Wise's words out loud or in
06:55front of anybody he was right there. Oh wow no pressure. No pressure at all um it was
07:00the first time I had met him too and we had spoken briefly before the read but we
07:04didn't get to know each other so I still didn't know the type of man he was I
07:07didn't know the type of person he was so I was so scared I was reading these
07:11lines and I was like what if I'm not doing it right what if I sound weird what
07:15if I'm forcing it or what if he's offended by how I'm speaking so all of
07:19that tied into that reading but the second we finished he was wiping tears
07:24off of his face. Oh wow. And he took the chain off of his neck and he put it on
07:28mine
07:28and he says you're the king now you're Cory Wise. Well what's amazing about your
07:32relationship and hearing about that is because for many people today who maybe
07:35didn't know the story back then or had forgotten because people have short-term
07:39memories sometimes is that you are the reason that they know what he went
07:44through so talk to me about portraying those experiences some of which are
07:51brutal and I mean most all of them are brutal you know and I hate to ask you
07:55this is sort of a dumb question because I'm sure all of it was difficult but
07:58what was the most difficult of those scenes in prison and the physicality that you
08:03had to go through and just the fighting in solitary what was the what was the
08:08hardest day on set?
08:12That's a good question because there's so many there's so many difficult days there
08:15were so many days where I felt this though it would be hard to get out of this day
08:23if I'm if I'm trying to like go into my head now and think about a day it'd be that
08:28assault that Cory got into with the eight men where he was trapped inside of a cell and
08:33he was being stabbed and assaulted that day was extremely painful and
08:40emotionally taxing because I think I didn't count but maybe 11 12 takes of
08:45that scene and I yelled at the top of my lungs each take for Cory you know I
08:53couldn't imagine him yelling any less and so I made sure that every time Avis
08:59hit action that I gave all that pain and all that fear that he must have been
09:03through and you do it over and over it you start to get used to yelling and you
09:08start to get used to even though it's you know it's stage combat and it's not real
09:12you still get used you know big men kind of just putting pressure to your body and
09:17you're yelling and you're being pressed against the bed and and it's all magic and
09:20it's all film magic and we're all just putting in a performance but it it leaves
09:26you know it leaves you and you still hear the screams you I can still feel the
09:31metal of the bed I'm like being afraid that my head might hit it and things like
09:35that but I can't even imagine what Cory was afraid of you know that was by far
09:39one of the hardest days any scenes I shared with Nisi Nash was extremely
09:43difficult the idea of my mom going through what Nisi's character went through is
09:50heartbreaking to me and it made it very real especially Nisi's performance was
09:55so as I don't know so motherly and so loving but also so painful and so much
10:01tension and it's like I never want this with me and my mom so those scenes were
10:05hard but I'll tell you this I think my hardest scene or the hardest thing to get
10:12into was young Cory was playing Cory outside of any prison or outside of any
10:17precinct because we don't know Cory as that you know when you look up videos of
10:23young Cory or Cory at 16 you won't see him eating pizza you won't see him hanging
10:28out with his friends riding a skateboard you'll see him you know behind a desk
10:31being interrogated by police you see him in a mugshot and I couldn't allow those
10:37pictures and that version of Cory to you know fuel my young Cory performance
10:43because that's not who he was you know he was a whole different person and so I had
10:47a hard time doing the scenes with Lisa and the scenes in the park where I'm just
10:50having a good time just knowing that you know in about five hours he's gonna go
10:53to that park and everything's gonna change for him how do I smile and make
10:57jokes at the chicken shop you know when I know that Cory just wishes he could have
11:02stayed in Kennedy with Lisa the whole time talk to me about Ava as a leader on the
11:06set and and what your relationship was like for now yes the greatest word to
11:12describe Ava a leader I'm a leader at its best she I think the best directors
11:18are the directors that know exactly what they want know exactly how to get it but
11:25allow the you know the people they are working with to breathe and have space to
11:29create on their own as well and so Ava I think Ava trusted me and the other
11:34actors as well with the research of our characters she wrote the script yes but
11:40she understood that I spent a lot of time learning who Cory Wise was so rather
11:47than her giving me exactly what to do with saying no this has to be that that
11:51has to be that she allowed me to play and there was a lot of moments where she
11:55said you know Cory you know Cory way better than I do how would Cory you know
12:00respond to this or how do you think Cory would react to this it's amazing so let's
12:04look back now a little bit I mean we've been doing that a lot already but look
12:08back to just your resume right so you started Moonlight which was the one the
12:15Oscar for Best Picture and then now this which has you know dozen Emmy nominations
12:19including one for you for lead actor where do you go from here I mean what
12:24what scripts are coming your way what do you want to do next I stop stop here I say I'm
12:30good
12:31moving on now to me the last thing I want is this nomination to feel like it's the
12:37button it's the yeah good you did it you know I haven't done nearly half of the
12:41things that I hope to accomplish as an actor as an artist so my goal in life is
12:47to continue to work on projects that um really speak I do want to do comedy though
12:52I want to make a couple jokes here and there so I would love to just work on
12:57anything really that means something to me in the end art is medicine I think
13:02art is what imitates life you know art is the imitation of life and I think we
13:07need art you know I think TV especially TV just what's happening with TV and and
13:11all these stories that are coming out it's what we need so I want to focus on
13:16those kind of projects the ones that we need
13:19comedies medicine too do you have any jokes before we go oh god you can't no no I
13:26don't okay but somebody will write it somebody will write it and I'll try to say it
13:30get it to him yeah and so we'll make that happen anyway we're out of time thank you
13:34so much thank you so good to see you again I'm still just racking my brain
13:38trying to think of something funny to say but there's nothing funny about it you
13:41know what check out the Emmys coming up we can see this guy maybe we'll make some
13:46jokes in the red carpet there do you know what you're wearing yet no I don't but my
13:50mom is looking real hard on what she's wearing so she's got like seven dresses
13:53lined up she's ready good but I'll figure it out you'll figure it out you got some
13:57time anyway thank you guys for tuning in today and be sure to check out when they
14:00see us now airing on Netflix and for everything news and reviews check out thr.com
Comments