They call came from within my dad’s bodybuilding community. But when I was shooting, I had a panic attack because I didn’t know any of the men I was shooting with. I’m wearing black thigh-high boots and initially, I wanted it to represent masc and femme. The first image I shot, kind of my hero image, is the one of me with all of the bodybuilders. As I began to go on the journey of organizing the shoot, I realized there were a lot of emotional things that kept coming up within myself - trauma, triggers, homophobia - that I learned that even as an out Black queer man, I still had so much unpacking to do. I had an idea to go to Florida to shoot an image that represents what it felt like growing up with a dad who was a pastor and a professional bodybuilder and trying to find my own identity in these spaces that uphold an extreme kind of masculinity or an idea of masculinity. After playing Basquiat on Broadway and promoting The Inspection, I got really heady and wanted to do something that was just for me. I really enjoyed it because it allowed me to have a different point of view, and I got to meet and connect with people and highlight their beauty and story. I’ve been acting for a lot of my life but when I was first in school in New York, my side hustle was working as a photographer shooting headshots and portraits. The press notes say this series started as a self-funded creative project that transformed into a therapeutic journey. Days before traveling to Miami to debut the series at Scope Art Show (where he’ll also sit for a conversation with Moonlight scribe Tarell Alvin McCraney), Pope hopped on a call with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss the project’s origins, why the series gave him a panic attack and what he learned about himself through the process.ĭrag Star Jimbo Signs With WME and Producer Entertainment Group (Exclusive) The result is a photo series called “Flex (bitch)” that challenges gender norms, finds Pope in drag for the first time and casts RuPaul’s Drag Race star Symone as a shirtless, masculine man puffing on a cigarette. ![]() ![]() ![]() With his latest, the 31-year-old is shifting focus to photography as a way to investigate a childhood growing up as gay with a pastor father who also happened to be a professional bodybuilder. He earned an Emmy nomination for a starring role in Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood, and drew raves last year for his dramatic work on the big-screen in The Inspection. Jeremy Pope conquered Broadway (and earned two Tony nominations in the same year) for work in Choir Boy and Ain’t Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations.
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