Exclusive | BAFTA nominee Michael Ellenberg: I’m A Virgo has a lot to say about the Black experience in America and the African-American culture

If you have sobbed all through Pachinko (2022), then Michael Ellenberg’s latest outing I’m A Virgo will leave you scratching your head. Highly acclaimed in the film and TV circles for Prometheus, Stoker, and Robin Hood, Ellenberg spoke exclusively to OTTPlay about the ramifications of being different in today’s world and shared why he got obsessed with Boots Riley to the point of chasing him around.
Edited excerpts from our chat with the BAFTA nominee:

First of all, I have watched the series I’m A Virgo and I thought it’s really fun, quirky and intelligently made. So, why this project?

Michael: Well, I attended Sundance when Boots Riley's first film, Sorry To Bother You, premiered. And the film—like (with) so many people—blew me away. I'd never seen anything like it. And I was taken with Boots’ creativity on every level, both what the film had to say, its incredible style. Its incredible tone, the uniqueness of its kind of warmth, specificity, absurdity, and surrealism. It ultimately had heart and was accessible.  

And so, I became obsessed with it and chased Boots afterward (laughs!), and tried to convince too (as) I thought he could do something incredible in this space. Fortunately, he agreed. And we made a deal for a blind script at the time and then he pitched us the idea for this in its nascent stages and the moment he said, it's about 13-ft-tall giant in Oakland who, you know, basically leaves his house for the first time on his 19th birthday. I was in. You know. And it felt like, from the jump and certainly in final execution, it felt like an extension of what he had built in that film (Sorry To Bother You). But something that's even more personal, more tied to both his own personal experience and his own worldview. And, and yeah, we're fortunate and, and honored that we chose to partner with us on this. 

As you rightly mentioned, this series is essentially about a 13 ft giant who steps out of his house for the first time after 19 years. But, it also touches upon the important and alarming topics of race and racism, right? So why was it important for the team to incorporate that? And what do you plan on achieving through starting a dialogue around racing race and racism?

Michael: Well, you know, Boots Riley is the best person to ask those questions. I think for him and I, and for others who watch the show, we were always really drawn to the idea of; he’s a young black man, right? And so, the degree to which the world can look at black men differently from others, right? And so, the culture, and even if obviously most people are not 13 ft tall, right? 

It's a metaphor in some ways for those who stand out from everyone else. And you're looked at differently, you're both celebrated and you're feared at the same time, right? You're admired and you're feared at the same time. And, so I think for Boots, it was a powerful metaphor, I think for the audience, it will be too, for a universal experience of what's it like to come of age and then there's a specific experience of what it means to be, a young black man coming of age, right? And so, it's both about Oakland at large and, and certainly, it has a lot to say, I think about both the Black experience in America and the African-American culture. 

And people should watch it and I think the show speaks for itself in terms of what it's looking to say and explore in these topics.