“I'm a Virgo” star Jharrel Jerome, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”'s Maya Erskine, Stephen Colbert, and more in EW's “The Awardist”

Emmy winner Jerome goes big for his subversive comedy, Erskine reveals how Tom Cruise inspired her on the action-drama, nomination predictions, and more in EW's "The Awardist" digital magazine.

Jharrel Jerome on the comedy advice he got from Bill Hader, growing pains, and the 'mental gymnastics' of playing a 13-foot-tall teen

Interview by Kristen Baldwin
Illustration by Dan Evans

Jharrel Jerome is feeling a little sleepy when he logs on to join Entertainment Weekly’s Awardist podcast for an interview. The actor apologizes, saying he’s a little “run down” after a quick trip to Miami with friends. “I’m realizing why I don’t do that anymore,” jokes the actor, who, at the ripe old age of 26, has already starred in an Oscar-winning movie (Moonlight) and won an Emmy for his role as Korey Wise in the Netflix limited series When They See Us.

But as soon as we start talking about his starring role in I’m a Virgo, Jerome absolutely lights up. Created by Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You), Virgo begins with Jerome’s Cootie, a 13-foot-tall teenager living in Oakland, leaving the house he shares with his aunt and uncle (Carmen Ejogo and Mike Epps) for the first time in 19 years. Part absurdist comedy, part searing social satire, and all wildly original, Virgo follows Cootie’s journey as he makes friends with a group of young activists — Felix (Brett Gray), Jones (Kara Young), and Scat (Allius Barnes) — and falls in love with Flora (Olivia Washington), a Bing Bang Burger cashier who possesses super speed. Once out into the world, Cootie becomes a media celebrity, and a target for the Hero (Walton Goggins), a billionaire comic book publisher who also fights crime in an Iron Man-like robosuit.

Riley used forced perspective and other practical effects to create Virgo’s visually stunning alternate universe, which meant Jerome largely performed his scenes opposite tiny puppets of his costars. Even with that challenge, the actor brings Cootie to life with an alluring blend of confidence and innocence — and surprising comedic prowess.

The Bronx-born Jerome chatted with The Awardist about the "mental gymnastics" of shooting in forced perspective, the comedy advice he got from Bill Hader, and the Virgo moment he calls “the weirdest scene in the planet of cinema.”

Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV.

THE AWARDIST: It all started with an email from Boots Riley titled “13-Foot-Tall Black Man from Oakland.” In the first meeting, he brought figurines to show you how he wanted to shoot. Tell us about that conversation — what kind of questions did you have for Boots about Cootie?

JHARREL JEROME: Boots brought the whole nine yards to that meeting when he showed up. I got the email, and of course, opening it was a must just because of how just bold the concept was. But when you think of a bold concept, you start to question everything around it. “How are you going to do it? What does it require on my end?” And I think Boots knew that when he showed up to the meeting, because he did bring that briefcase and he had a ton of figurines — he had a Cootie figurine, a Flora, a Jones — and him bringing those figurines was for the purpose of showing me how he was going to shoot in forced perspective. He was going to do a lot of magic in terms of the body as opposed to the computer. That excited me — fewer special effects, not too much CGI. When he said that, that's when I got even more confused and I was kind of like, “Well, what exactly is forced perspective, and what does that entail for me?” He looked at me like, “It's not going to be easy. Not for you, not for me, or anybody involved.” I was on board as soon as that meeting was done, especially because I knew nothing was going to be easy.

You love a challenge.

I love a challenge! It's why I'm very specific with the roles I take. If one role challenged me in such a way, it'd be great if the next one did it in a different way. For this, shooting forced perspective is forcing me to not make any eye contact with my scene partners, not make any eye contact with anything besides an X made of tape. You have to put all of your thoughts and emotions into this green tape X and imagine it giving back to you as an actor. That's so important, feeding off who you're working with — and this time around, that couldn't happen.

Related: 2024 Emmy nomination predictions: Outstanding Drama, Comedy, and Limited Series

What was that adjustment process like?

It's a trust game. That's what it becomes. Boots really was so adamant about the cast bonding off-set, and that helped a ton. Boots was renting a home while he was shooting [the series], and he invited all of us every Sunday to go and kick back and relax, watch movies and chill by the swimming pool that was there.

Honestly, that was everything because it became a thing where, when we got to set, we understood what we were like. So, when I would be on set and I wasn't around anybody, I'd close my eyes and I'd have an earpiece in my ear, and I would hear Brett Gray talking and making jokes. Even though I'm not seeing his face and his emotions, I can picture everything, and I can use my imagination enough to create the responses I think he'd create. And so, if Boots didn't [create bonding opportunities for the cast], there would have been nothing to pull from. The real-life bonding that we did was able to translate very well onto set.

Oh, okay — so, in every scene, you’d have the other actor in your ear delivering their lines?

Yes. A lot of the show took place in Cootie’s room. So, if you walked into this warehouse, what you would see is a large house and then right next to it, a very tiny house, and they looked exactly the same. You’d be very confused. [Laughs] When you go into the small house, you would see just me with all these small dolls around me, and I would look like a giant, because the roof is very low, and I just look big. Then, if you go to the other big room, you would see Olivia, Elias, Brett, and Kara looking tiny, because everything is huge around them — big couch, big walls, big fridge. While they’re playing the scene in the big house, at the exact same time I'm playing the scene in the small house. They all have earpieces in, and I have an earpiece in. The earpiece is just for dialogue — the rest is all pretending that we are all in the same room. For them, they're looking up at different eye lines. Maybe one of our crew members is holding a big stick with the X and moving it as if I'm moving. And then on the other hand, in the small house, I'm looking down at the floor at different X marks.

Do you recall the very first thing you shot?

Oh yes, I do remember — wow! It was the scene where Jones was getting the protesters together. She's drawing signs, and Cootie comes in. I think we started around episode five or six. So, I immediately on the first day was playing with standing on top of a platform so that my head can be against the ceiling and I’m looking down towards Kara. My first day was easier than the other days, because I was in the room with Kara, but it was tricky because it's when I realized that my back was probably going to hurt, because for about six hours I was hunched over. [Laughs]

Related: 2024 Emmy nomination predictions: All the main acting categories

So whether you were in a scene acting against six-inch figurines or in a set where your head is pressed up against an artificially low ceiling, how did that physical environment inform your performance?

In every way it helped. I think if we would've done this CGI or green screen, it would've been even trickier for me. When you're placed in the environment, it's almost like you're Method acting without trying. You're in the world and you have the tool with you to pull from. And so, as I'm standing there hunched over, I definitely don't feel anything but too big. [Laughs] The set that they built, it was amazing. My iPhone was the size of my pinky. The plates were small. There was a caterer on set just making tiny food. It was real food! Anytime I'm eating, it's real mini-sized versions of food —a mini slider or mini tacos. So, you feel giant.

Okay, so the sets did help you with your performance — but you were also often hunched over for long periods of time. What scene was the most painful for your back?

It did get to the point that they were requesting a masseuse for me to make sure that it didn't go overboard. At some point, somebody was like, “Is his spine okay?” [Laughs] Because for me, I wouldn't complain. I was like, “I'm not going to complain. Cootie wouldn't complain.”

I would say the most tedious scene though was shooting the scenes in the kitchen. The first time you see me, I'm peeking out the window. Anytime we shot on that set, it was damn near impossible because for that shot, they blended me with my giant doll. They used the giant doll legs to hang over the counter, and then they put the camera a little further away, and I stood closer in front of the camera, and I lined my upper body up with the lower body of the big legs. So, I'm hiding my legs and I'm lining it up to the big legs. How I sit really matters. If I'm not mistaken, I think that setup took two hours. Usually on a set, you have a stand-in, and that stand-in will do the tedious work while the camera lines up, and you can go relax. The bougie part of acting. [Laughs] For me, I didn't get that on this set because my body had to be the body that's used, and it required me being there.

Now that you brought it up, we should talk about the fact that there was a 13-foot-tall doll of you hanging around on that set.

There was two of them — two of them terrifyingly looming over the set. [Laughs] There was a big version of me, and then little puppets of [my costars]. They never got to look at me either [during scenes]. A lot of times they're looking at this very large doll that has a very bland, dead face and it's kind of creepy. I give props to Olivia because in those scenes where we're in house arrest and Flora's spending so much time with Cootie, she really spent days on a set with this big doll that was her boyfriend.

Related: 2024 Emmy nomination predictions: Who will be our guest actor/actress nominees?

You won an Emmy for When They See Us, and you’ve done lots of drama, and now we get to see you be so, so funny in I’m a Virgo. What were the challenges of playing the comedy in the show, especially because it’s in the midst of some very serious themes?

The beauty in comedy is that it is drama. It is our darkest fears, it’s our worst days turned into light and humor. I'm really glad Boots was able to add that naturally. We're called a comedy, but I never knew it was a comedy the entire time because, like you said, the themes are so strong and a lot of what goes down is hard to bear.

In real life, I think I'm hilarious. I make jokes all the time and people around me are like, “You are a very funny person.” But I have heard the funnier you are, the better you'll be at dramatic acting and then vice versa — the more stoic you are, the better you'll be at comedy. I found that to be semi-true when I got on this set, because the first real comedy scene I had to do in this was the club scene where Cootie is trying to flirt with this girl. On paper it is hilarious: You've got this big 13-foot-tall guy trying to be smooth and hit on a girl who's 5’5”. When I was playing the scene, I remember having a very hard time. I felt like I was forcing it. I asked Boots, like “How is it coming off? Is it good?” He was like, “No, it seems forced.” [Laughs] I said, “I don't really know how to get there.” He was like, “Don't worry about it being funny because it’s already funny.” I thought that was a really good note. And that definitely changed the game for me.

This is a random story, but I got to speak with Bill Hader personally, and he told me a story about a similar thing where he was on the set of Superbad, and he had that scene where he comes in and he sees the minors in bed. He said he had a hard time getting to that scene as well, because he was trying to make it funny, but it wasn't coming off. He said he took the funny out because he realized what the scene was — it’s actually not funny. There’s a minor [having sex]; it's not a funny scene. So, he goes there, and he treats it like it’s very serious — and it came out to be one of the funniest scenes of that movie.

I'm glad you asked me about the comedy aspect. I would love to do comedy. I want to get into comedy, but it is something to learn even if you're funny in person or if you can make jokes, to zone into it and do it the right way on screen in character, it's a different ballgame.

There are so many funny scenes, but one of my favorites is in the Bing Bang Burger, where Cootie meets a man — played by Elijah Wood — who is studying to be an executioner. Did you get to meet Elijah, and what were your thoughts on that scene?

I did. It was one of the most random days of my life. [Laughs] I got to meet Elijah; he was there for maybe four hours. The cool thing about shooting at Bing Bang is that I got to be in this space with them, even though while we shot, we still didn't look at each other. But it was fun working with him because he did Lord of the Rings, and Lord of the Rings did exactly what we're doing with the forced perspective. When he came to set, he wasn't confused at all. He was actually impressed and amazed to see it happening on the scale that it was happening on in our world.

That scene is still, to me, the weirdest scene in the planet of cinema. I remember when we were shooting it, I had questions for Boots. I was like, “What is this? What is going on? What does Cootie learn from it?” He didn't give me a straight answer. He just gave me a, “Go do it. Go get that scene done.” And when I ended up seeing it, I thought it was very funny and very clever and odd in all the right ways that Virgo is trying to be. It's a man with such confidence that he can change the justice system, but the way he's decided to change it is in the most vicious way.

Related: I'm a Virgo review: Boots Riley goes big in a coming-of-age comedy that's fiercely original

In one interview, you mentioned that you and Walton Goggins, who plays the billionaire vigilante known as the Hero, generally chose to stay separate throughout the production, given that Cootie and the Hero don’t truly know each other either. Tell me about that and how that informed your performance as Cootie when it came to the Hero.

Cootie idolizes the Hero, but he doesn't know who he idolizes. It definitely helped to be a fan of Walton's work. I am a huge Quentin Tarantino fan, and a lot of the work Walton's done has been with Quentin — so knowing Walton was going to be on this set was exciting for me. I'm thinking, “All right, this is a heavy hitter.” And then I'm looking around and he just never was there. I think it was the same thing with Cootie. Cootie’s like, "The Hero’s going to save me, he’s going to inspire me, he’s going to change the world.” But when he goes out there [into the world], he doesn't see that.

When Walton came to set, he brought exactly the energy I thought he would, but times 10. I knew he would come focused, but he came with this edge that intimidated me. So, not knowing who he was the entire time, then meeting him and being intimidated by him, I think is exactly what Cootie’s arc was when he met the Hero. By the time he confronts the Hero, it's no longer his biggest inspiration. It's his biggest enemy. I don’t know if it was purposeful or not, but Boots really did well at making sure all the actors had the tools that they needed. It could have been as simple as a scheduling thing, but me and Walton not being around each other, that helped a lot.

Let’s talk about how Cootie’s understanding of racism and oppression evolve over the course of the series. In the beginning for example, he takes a job modeling for a clothing company called Asphalt Royalty, and they put him in all these very problematic poses, like snatching a white boy’s bag or a pimp backhanding a prostitute. He seems to know it’s wrong, but he allows himself to be put in those positions — how did you interpret those scenes?

When it comes to the deeper issues of racism and oppression, all he really knows about it is what he’s been taught by his parents. They show him this book, and it's all these traumatic images of men in history who were eight feet, nine feet, 10 feet tall who were viewed as monsters and executed. For him, that's important to know, but there was so much more for him to know that he didn't, and that was kept from him specifically to keep him away from the sadness of it all. It’s one thing to look in a book, and it's another thing to go out and feel it. [With Asphalt Royalty], he thought, “This is a job. I get the money, I'll go to the Bing Bang, I'll get the girlfriend, kiss her, and I'll come back home.” There's a beauty in that. And then when you get to the end of the season, he's starting to call himself a villain, and he's starting to view himself as the bad guy with the grin on his face. Maybe this is who I was.

Related: John Leguizamo urges Television Academy members to nominate more diverse talent ahead of Emmy voting

What did you take away from this experience that you’ll be able to use in future projects?

Well, the mental gymnastics of it all, it's almost like I was boxing, and I was jumping rope every day. To me, as long as I can look my scene partner in the eyes on the next project, it’s a piece of cake. I really learned to trust myself, to trust another part of my brain, trust the people around me, and trust my director. More than what the actual character fed to me, it is more so as an actor, the tools that I was able to attain this time around. It’s not that the next project will be easy because I want to be challenged, but the next project, I'll trust myself a bit more and I'll have more to pull from.

In terms of Cootie, it's never a problem to be a little naive. I learned that with Cootie. I'm hardheaded in real life. I like to know, but I think it's so important to allow the people around you to teach you something. Playing Cootie was [a lot of] that, because almost every scene, he has no idea what he's doing. [Laughs]

Have you heard any word about a possible season 2?

I don't know anything specifically yet. My fingers are crossed, but I know the strike did a lot of things. Everything's so tricky now, but even if we do a movie somehow, I think there's just more to Cootie’s story for sure.

Related: Ripley, X-Men '97, Baby Reindeer score notable 2024 TCA Awards nominations

Your next project is Unstoppable, where you're playing real-life wrestler Anthony Robles. Tell us a little bit about that.

That is another challenge that I put myself through. [Laughs] I got to play a man named Anthony Robles. He's from Arizona, and he was born with one leg, and he chose collegiate wrestling as a sport his entire life. He ended up being undefeated, and he won NCAA awards. If you know wrestling, you know him. It was an incredible process for me. I’m like, “All right, how can I challenge myself after something like Virgo?” Well, let's put me in crutches and figure out how I can embody somebody who's missing a limb and do it the right way.

I had to learn how to wrestle. I had to get in shape. I had to play another real-life person. Playing Cootie is fun because there's no pressure in that. You get to create the character yourself. But when you're playing somebody real, like I did with When They See Us, you have such a responsibility. I got to spend weeks on end with Anthony, and wrestle with him and learn his life and learn the struggles that he faces. I took it, and we made a movie about it. So that should be coming out in the fall, if I'm not mistaken.

At some point you’re going have to take a role where you get to lay by the pool or something.

Thank you. Just a comedy where I'm just a cool guy sitting by the pool the whole time. That'd be nice. [Laughs] Whisper that to my team, please.

I'm a Virgo is available to stream on Prime Video.

Important Emmys season dates

JUNE 13 — Nominations voting begins
JUNE 24, 10 p.m. — Nominations voting ends
JULY 17 — Nominations announced
AUG. 15 — Final voting begins
AUG. 26, 10 p.m. — Final voting ends
SEPT. 7 and 8 — Creative Arts Emmy Awards and Governors Gala
SEPT. 15 — 76th Emmy Awards and Governors Gala

Let's get physical: Maya Erskine on her Mr. & Mrs. Smith training — and the move she borrowed from Tom Cruise

THE AWARDIST: Was training anything like you expected it would be? Did you enjoy it? How was your experience with that? 

MAYA ERSKINE: I grew to love it. I am someone who is really just, when it comes to strength training or being in a really overly masculine gym, it scares me. I cried the first day I went into this gym because I was like, I'm not this person and I will not be this person! But it was actually really valuable and important for me, and I challenged myself so much and grew and was able to do pushups and things that I just could never imagine I could do. I got so strong, and especially after my body felt so foreign to me after having a baby, I wasn't even in my body. I had to get in. And so the strength training totally put me there and made it possible for me to play Jane.

From a physicality perspective, the athleticism is there, the skills are all there. Here's the one big question I have about all of those physical things because in the final episode, there's the foot chase, and [you and Donald Glover] guys had Tom Cruise run speed. Are you just that good and fast of a runner? Was that intentional? Is there a filmmaking trick? 

Well, I’m not a runner, but let me just say this: I became one that week. I was also sick that week. I had a cold and flu, and it cured it. I'm telling you. I was like, oh, I thought you have to rest when you're sick. But actually being so active for two days in a row, my cold went away after three days. But no, that's a side note. But in the first episode we run, and Donald, he was training and he was running as part of his training in the beginning, and so he had to slow himself down so that we could stay in the same tracking shot, and it wasn't looking fast. So I did steal the Tom Cruise run, which is lifting your hands. It does help. It's interesting how film can make it either look faster or slower, and you also need to stay in line with the camera. So there's so many things to think about, but in that last episode, we did run like hell. I was wearing Mary Janes. That was crazy.

Listen to the full interview with Erskine and Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-creator/showrunner Francesca Sloane, below.

2024 Emmy nomination predictions: Reality TV contenders

Will 2024 be the year that voters finally recognize the Real Housewives or Bachelor franchises? Can The Traitors break through after just two seasons? And who will have the honor of losing to RuPaul in the Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program category? Read on for answers. By Kristen Baldwin

Reality Competition Program

RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV)
The Amazing Race (CBS)
The Voice (NBC)
Top Chef (Bravo)
The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge (Netflix)

There’s generally very little movement in this category, though a newcomer can occasionally break through. (See: Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls in 2022.) It’s possible The Traitors could steal a slot from Nailed It, but that’s about all the excitement we can expect.

Host for a Reality or Competition Program

RuPaul, RuPaul’s Drag Race
Antoni Porowski, Bobby Berk, Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Queer Eye (Netflix)
Kristen Kish, Top Chef
Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary, Shark Tank (ABC)
Nicole Byer, The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge

Check out Kristen's predictions here for Structured and Unstructured Reality Program.

Stephen Colbert's rise to the top: The Late Show host reflects on almost a decade in his dream job

The late-night host takes EW behind the scenes at The Late Show, talking politics, live shows, and what he’s learned in nearly 10 years at CBS. By Devan Coggan

Since launching in 2015, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert has catapulted the series to record ratings, transforming it into the most-watched show in late-night for eight consecutive seasons. Much of the show’s success stems from Colbert’s signature blend of silliness and satire. The 60-year-old comedian built his career first as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show starting in 1997 and then graduating to host of the beloved Colbert Report in 2005, before conquering network TV. Coming from the high-concept parody of his cable series, he says he initially bristled against the traditional late-night format, assuming he had to completely rethink and deconstruct one of the oldest forms of TV entertainment. But he quickly discovered that not only did he like hosting a late-night show, it felt like home. “I was determined to not do a monologue,” he admits of his initial approach to the show. “I thought, ‘I’m not a stand-up. I’m an actor.’ And then I fell in love with the monologue. You just need to relax, have a good time, and follow your instincts in terms of the stories you’re interested in.”

So far, those instincts have served him well. Over the past nine years, Colbert has seemingly perfected the ratio of absurdist political humor, insightful celebrity conversations, and dumb gags. At a recent episode taping in April, he kicked off the evening by poking fun at Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial, breaking down the convoluted legal process and describing the former president as “basically a hunk of beef jerky with a layer of bronzer.” But then, he pivoted to a much stupider topic: a group of Floridian monkeys that had recently tested positive for herpes. As he warned viewers not to “touch macaque,” his bottom lip quivered and he bit back giggles. “I love puns,” he tells EW with a shrug and a smile. “I love stupid jokes and stupid, stupid puns.”

Blending the stupid and the smart isn’t exactly new territory, but few comedians do it quite as well — or as seamlessly — as Colbert. That tonal flexibility is what’s helped cement him as one of the best interviewers in late-night, often leading his guests into thoughtful discussions on loss, faith, or politics. (It’s hard to imagine another late-night host reciting Shakespeare from memory with Denzel Washington or having a poignant conversation about grief with a teary Andrew Garfield.)

Related: Dolly Parton makes Stephen Colbert cry, serenading him with song her mother used to sing

He plans to stay at the Ed Sullivan Theater for as long as they’ll let him. One of the biggest joys of hosting The Late Show is how much he loves going to work on Broadway every day. The more time he’s spent there, the more he’s felt the building’s legacy. Now he can rattle off the theater’s history like a particularly knowledgeable CBS tour guide.

He loves every inch of the place, from his wood-paneled office to the brass-handled elevator he takes to access the stage every day. The elevator has been there since the building’s construction, and predecessor David Letterman taught Colbert how to operate it when he inherited the space. To this day, he can usually tell if it’ll be a good show based on whether he can perfectly land the elevator, lining up flush with the floor outside. “First time I landed it, I thought I did a pretty good job,” he says. “And Dave looked at it and he goes, ‘It’s not up to my standards.’ So every time I land the elevator on the floor, I think, ‘I wonder if that’s up to his standards.’ ”

He’s gotten pretty good, but even after years of practice, nailing it can be tricky: The cable tightens and loosens with the weather, and the speed depends on how many people are on board. There’s no exact science, he notes, just a gut feeling — making it not all that dissimilar to performing. “There’s a little bit of ‘Use the Force, Luke,’ ” he says with a laugh. “Except the Obi-Wan in my head is Dave.”

Read the full Stephen Colbert cover story here.

Emmys Flashback

""Oh, this is faaaaaabulous!... Ah, I wonder if I get paid more money for this. Thank you!"
—JACKÉE HARRY | SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES, 1987 | 227
"

Cannes-tenders: Demi Moore, Selena Gomez, Anora, more emerge as potential 2025 Oscar contenders

From anointing the rise of prospective acting nominees to laying the foundation for strong campaigns for its top award-winning films in the competition, Cannes produced a range of potential Oscar nominees to keep an eye on in the coming months. By Joey Nolfi

It's natural to start with this year's Palme d'Or champion, Sean Baker's universally lauded Anora. The drama — which stars Scream and Better Things actress Mikey Madison as a stripper whose marriage to the son of a Russian oligarch draws an unexpectedly harsh response from her spouse's parents — earned a glowing reception on the Croisette. The project is the latest in Baker's increasingly esteemed filmography, following Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017), and Red Rocket (2021), with Florida even earning an Oscar nod for supporting actor Willem Dafoe.

Also in the hunt after a stellar showing at Cannes is Demi Moore's body horror drama The Substance, which reportedly received a standing ovation that lasted somewhere between 11 and 13 minutes. The film is a self-reflexive Hollywood tale that stars Moore as a veteran actress who uses a black-market drug to create a younger, better version of herself (Margaret Qualley).

Related: Demi Moore’s explicit new film The Substance restored her excitement in acting after almost walking away

Elsewhere on the acting front, pop star Selena Gomez won one of the most prestigious acting awards in the world at Cannes, sharing the highly regarded Best Actress prize with fellow Emilia Pérez stars Adriana Paz, Karla Sofía Gascón, and Zoe Saldaña, who all appeared in the Jacques Audiard-helmed film about a transgender Mexican cartel leader. Following Poor Things star Emma Stone's Best Actress victory at the 2024 Oscars, Jesse Plemons also continued a winning streak for Yorgos Lanthimos-director actors, earning Cannes' Best Actor award for the upcoming Kinds of Kindness.

Read more of Joey's Cannes-alysis and early thoughts on the 2025 Oscar race.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.