Have y’all watched all of I’m A Virgo yet? Prime Video premiered the series last Friday and all episodes are currently available to watch on the streamer.
Source: Courtesy of Prime Video / Prime Video
Olivia Washington’s Flora Is More Than Just Love Interest In I’m A Virgo
Written, produced and directed by Boots Riley, the series stars Jharrel Jerome as a 13-foot-tall Oakland teenager who is experiencing life outside of his house for the very first time. His life changes drastically after he meets and befriends a passionate group of friends, including Felix (Brett Gray), Scat (Allius Barnes), Jones (Kara Young) and Flora (Olivia Washington) who all manage to teach him something important about the world they’re living in.
GlobalGrind caught up with Olivia Washington and Kara Young to discuss the show, and both women were quick to give Boots Riley kudos, particularly for the way Black women are depicted in the series.
“I really love the way — I love how complete Boots write all of us,” Olivia Washington, who plays Cootie’s crush Flora, told Global Grind. “There’s really not a stereotype or archetype of a character. Coming in playing the love interest you can really get stuck in just being a tool for the advancement of the protagonist, but truly Boots gave and wrote and created a really fully-fledged, like three dimensional in spirit, human being that there was more to. She’s also growing. She’s not just here to help his growth, she’s learning and making mistakes perhaps and we’re telling her truth and or learning how to love someone and let someone love her as well. It was so beautiful that Boots was able to create this like seemingly tough independent and yet soft and and different human being and I really connected to Flora that way.”
Source: Courtesy / Prime Video
Virgo Actress Kara Young Credits Kathleen Cleaver, Cohambee River Collective For Inspiration
Kara Young’s character Jones becomes the voice of the community in the series. She speaks out over injustices and is able to lead the people like no one else on the show. Young told us she tapped into the character by looking to some key Black political figures who’ve largely gone unsung.
“OK so Jones, yeah total badass, but also a vehicle in this particular series,” Young said of her character. “I feel like she is paying homage to so many revolutionary spirits, paying homage to the women of the movement, that we really don’t get to talk about, that a lot of people don’t know, like Kathleen Cleaver and like the Cohambee River Collective. That was my inspiration moving through this particular series. It was about, that we can be vehicles for change too and that you can name us too. I feel totally honored to have been a part of this series but also in the message that Jones is spreading into her ether and her community is really not just about that particular community, but about communities all over the world. It’s about the liberation of all oppressed people globally and I feel like so strongly that it was in the hands of a Black woman.”
Source: Courtesy of Prime Video / Prime Video
Kara Young And Olivia Washington Express Gratitude To Boots Riley For “Special” Opportunity
While Cootie’s giant size is at the center ofI’m A Virgo, Flora and Jones’ power also shines through. Watching the series really helps magnify the wide world of possibilities for Black creators. We had to ask Washington and Young about the special elements that play into the show and how cool it is to be part of a project that is breaking boundaries in that way.
“Like how many times do you get to create or change your physical environment based off a word?” Washington asked. “Right? For Jones. Or how many times you’ve got Flora to move at a pace and then be revealed to be something a little different about her? I think it it’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, so to be a part of that and to add my like piece of myself into that you can’t ask for anything better, you really can’t.”
“It feels like such beautiful Black art but it also feels like high art in a way that everybody can absorb and and feel something from,” Young agreed. “I can’t describe how I’m feeling. It’s just hitting me like right now like how honored, that this is happening, but also that I’m a part of it too.
“It feels like it’s surreal,” Washington added. “You [Boots] gave us this opportunity to be in something so special and so different and you believed in our ability to bring that to life. Like that’s insane.”
I’m A Virgo is streaming now on Prime Video
