Boots Riley wants a conversation, andIm a Virgois just the start.
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The fact that filmmaker Boots Rileys new TV seriesIm a Virgois a Prime Video project may seem incongruous.
More than 20 years ago, the Coup released a song called 5 Million Ways to Kill a C.E.O.
; now, the first season ofIm a Virgois on the streaming service made possible by Jeff Bezoss success.
Someone might say, We already know this.
Why is this in here?
If you already know it, its because youve had conversations in your life.
The first document I wrote talking about this show was entitled Super Villain.
So definitely wasnt Superman, right?
In the show, he kind of becomes the villain.
There are people cheering him on and people who are not, and thats what happens in real life.
I built Cootie from the inside.
Its always who the person is.
As far as the physiology, it points to something else.
There will probably be a second season, and thatll be answered there.
And if there isnt a second season, Ill publicly answer it for folks.
Those things find their way in because theyre in the world.
All those things come from solving a problem, trying to figure out how to get this idea across.
Im looking for these visceral things to make usfeelthese experiences and feel these ideas.
All of those things will become clear.
Was cutting in service of having things for a potential second season?No, it was strictly money.
We cut it in prep weeks before we were gonna go shoot.
There were things that broke my heart to lose, but it ends up being greatest hits.
There was more story line for Lower Bottom Folks, there were some other characters, this and that.
That rival was going to be a Vietnamese character.
Youre gonna get Black folks or white folks.
I feel like theres something missing from some of the representation of the Bay Area.
That character that Bear works with, maybe we can bring him back.
Then I thought,Wait.
I also started thinking,Will I change Cootie a little bit from my initial idea of him?
Thats something he just wouldnt be talking about.
Thats something Jones would say.But she wouldnt say it if it was going to be boring.
She has the power of being really good at arguing.
What does that power look like?
It had to feel different than the rest of the language of the show.
It would have to be stagecraft stuff that would actually feel like something new and different.
I wanted us to feel like her powers were to make people understand a thing.
Shes not like Professor X.
She cant change somebodys feelings or thoughts.
Who is this person?
How is she able to do that, and what does that really mean for her?
Her power is that everything is slower and shes bored.
How do I represent that?
I wanted it to feel uncomfortable and odd, like a David Lynch thing.
I chose to make the powers be things people didnt recognize in themselves as powers until Cootie came along.
Where is the point of power?
Theres a whole genre of heist movies, people robbing banks and stuff, and everybody loves them.
In those situations, nobody thinks the bank is the good guy.
People cheer for that to happen.
To have that conflict, I wanted there to be a quote-unquote heist.
What are people cheering for when theyre cheering for those heist movies?
And that sometimes gets spilled out into our regular life when we look at the world.
Somehow, its right!
But we also know at the same time that it doesnt actually changeanythingabout the system.
Its to help people, but it still symbolizes that same contradiction.
Theywereviolent, but they were millions of people.
You look at the Soviet Union, Cuba.
Im fascinated byParking Tickets, the animated show within the show.
Notice that their life seems exciting because theyre not sitting around watching TV.
So much of our life is spent like that.
What theyre taking in is part of them and part of the character of the world.
I thought,I need to see something that people are seeing.
Theyre arrogant and think theyre the best writers.
I started with that first scene ofParking Ticketsin episode two.
Whether it is in real life or not, I dont know.
Justin, who says Boyoyoyoyoyoyoing, thats Juliette Lewis.
I dont have the time for that.
I was like, Dont worry, youll be able to do everything in ten minutes.
And she was like, Okay, but wheres the script?
And Im like, Its the one word.
And lets give credit where credit is due: Theweatherman episodeand the existential despair, thats Tze.
Im like, What if this was one of the tools that they needed to use for the heist?
And then Tze was like, I got an idea.
I guess theres aPokemonepisode that in Japan gotbannedbecause they had all these blinking lights thats Tzes ideas right there.
Its a little unsettling in the sense that its like some other things youve seen before, but weirder.
Making aParking Ticketsshow has definitely been talked about.
But one that is very inspiring isMatewanby John Sayles.
Theres a movie calledSeeing Red, its a 1983 film by Jim Klein and Julia Reichert.
In the 60s, they became so militant they were able to get all of their demands.
They have a phenomenal influence on what we normalize and accept.
People kind of get into modes.
But at the same time, there are certain parts of the capitalist class that do think ideologically.
Jay Whittle thinks things should be a certain way.
We have in Hollywood a really strong connection between the Pentagon, the CIA, and Hollywood.
Its not even hidden.
Why do they care?
We know that the CIA takes orders from the ruling class, too.
Hey, weve got these markets in this country that are threatened by this particular movement.
We need you to do something about it.
Whose interests are those folks working for?
I think that there are people in those positions thinking about more than the immediate need for profit.
Thats why I have him saying these things.
Ive always asked myself the question,What am I doing with my art?
Does it really have an effect in that way?This has been a major eye-opener for me.
