Jeremy Pope on 'The Inspection' and His Return to Broadway

J eremy Pope is happy for a person who has been flying between Los Angeles and New York City. The actor has been doing press for his new movie, The Inspection, which is a semi-autobiographical film based on the life of writer-director Elegance Bratton and his relationship with his gay mother, as well as rehearsals for his return to Broadway later this month in The Collaboration. Pope plays Jean-Michel Basquiat and Bettany plays Andy Warhol in the production.

Pope is not new to being busy. In the past few years, he's played roles in movies, television shows, and Broadway productions, and released his own music. The actor joined the cast of Ain't Too Proud after making his Broadway debut in Choir Boy. He was nominated for Best Performance by an actor in a leading role in a play and Best Performance by an actor in a featured role at the Tony Awards.

Pope is currently playing Sammy Davis Jr. in Janet Mock's Scandalous!

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Pope talked about what it was like to be a part of The Inspection, his return to Broadway, and his moments of continued success in an interview with Time.

Excerpts from that conversation can be found here.

TIME: When did you know that you wanted to be a performer? Is it everything you expected it to be?

Pope: I think it was in high school when I was choosing between doing track or the school musical, which was Cats that year, an interesting choice for a high school production, but it was the first time I felt the power of telling a story and what a gift it could be to I went to college for acting after moving to New York. I think it is what I imagined.

In the new movie The Inspection, your character, Ellis French, is inspired by writer-director Elegance Bratton’s life as a young, gay, Black man who joins the Marines. What was that like?

He was looking for a vessel. We have to trust each other in order for this to work. I asked him to trust that the version of French that I create will be the right one. I need to create with you. We find our truth and harmony together. I could use this experience to bring up some of my own pain and abandonment, as well as bring it to the surface of healing and love, in a film about a black, queer man. The movie was shot in 19 days in Mississippi in the summer. The elements were very realistic. It was the most physically demanding role and it was very satisfying.

There are some harrowing scenes. Did you and Bratton have conversations about the merits and possible drawbacks of portraying such violence onscreen?

A lot of people were talking. I believe it was because it had happened to me in a different way. I wanted to not shoot it. I don't want him to be beaten up. I know what it means for the story. We have to tell the truth. People need to be all the way if we want to bring them in.

Was it hard, physically or emotionally, to film those scenes?

There was a time in New York. Someone punched me in the face while I was walking home in a blue denim shirt. The people that witnessed it wanted to protect me.

With that shower scene, as complex as it is for French to exist in this institution that is hyper-masculine, I didn't have to talk about what it feels like to be a queer man. I don't want anyone to notice I'm looking because my safety is in danger. It was difficult to shoot that. Braunton has gone through some traumatic and hard things, but that isn't all he is. He is having his feature film debut with A 24. The conclusion is that.

I have a question about the parts of the character that were fictionalized. Was the war paint scene—in which he uses the war paint as makeup—real?

That's right, ha! That was not what he said. It was one of those times when I was like, "Oh, if only I had done that at that time!" It was a great moment and I said that the French needed to have a Marilyn Monroe. This needs to be the drag moment for me. People need that hoo-rah moment in the movie.

A lot of your roles grapple with masculinity. Did you intentionally seek that out?

You don't know what you're going to get. I wanted to center myself in these stories by working with people that approach the business differently. I didn't see Black queer artists growing up. I didn't see a black gay movie star when I was a kid. I was a member of the church when I was a child. My father is a professional athlete. I challenge the idea of what a man is and how masculine he is.

I feel better than before. Therapy is what I am doing. I feel like I have a lot of emotional capacity. I can empathise with people who don't want the same life as me and that's through stories.

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You’ve played a lot of historical figures: Jackie Wilson (One Night in Miami…), Temptations member Eddie Kendricks (Ain’t Too Proud), and Jean-Michel Basquiat in The Collaboration. How do you approach a role based on a historical figure versus a fictional one?

You read books and use the internet. It is about trying to get as close as you can to the person. I think his art is my way of thinking about him. To mark where he was at emotionally, intellectually, creatively at this time, I use the words and drawings that are on his canvas. There needs to be a human inside to do all the research. That is what brings people in and that is what makes the performance or connection real.

You’ve also acted in different mediums: the stage, the small screen, the big screen. Where do you feel most at home, or do you always hope to move between them?

It is exciting to move between them all. The theater gave me my start as an actor. Theater and Broadway are like military and Marines practices because we are doing shows eight times a week while also trying to stay sane during the winter in New York City. It taught me to stick to my guns. I learned how to show up for work and tell the story over and over.

My reach is much larger in the medium of TV and film. There are people all over the world that have been affected by this visual thing that you created. The gift within the goal would allow for all the stories to be found.

In just a few years in the industry, you’ve received Emmy, Grammy, and Tony nominations in addition to Oscar buzz for The Inspection. What has it been like to see your success snowball so quickly?

A lot of highs and lows have been experienced. I feel very grounded because my family is everything to me and it keeps me on the ground. I feel taken care of by my people so I can deal with the high and lows. It is a part of being an artist and a creative to know that life is not meant to be a high or a low.

Go to moises.mendez@time.com to write to Moises.