Michael Cooper Jr. has an innocence about him, the kind of unguarded charm that feels rare these days.
Perhaps that comes from playing an awkward teenager stumbling through first love in “Forever,” Netflix’s adaptation of Judy Blume’s beloved 1975 novel. Or maybe it stems from being a fresh face in Hollywood, stepping into his first leading role on television after only a couple of years of acting. Whatever the reason, it suits him.
Sitting in front of me on Zoom less than two weeks before his show’s premiere, the actor, 23, radiates a humble warmth that suggests fame hasn’t upended his life yet — even after I tell him about the flurry of “Forever” fan edits and gifs already circulating on social media (which he stays off of), created by viewers eager to see young Black love back on their screens.
Though Cooper is on the verge of a career breakthrough, the rising star isn’t letting his debut as a leading man go to his head. It’s refreshing to see.
You may recognize Cooper from Sanaa Lathan’s 2022 directorial debut “On the Come Up” or even the quietly released horror movie “The Inhabitant,” where he starred alongside “The White Lotus” star Leslie Bibb. But “Forever” marks the young actor’s true arrival, as he steps into the role of Justin Edwards, the tender-hearted teen who falls hard for his childhood friend, Keisha Clark (played by the effervescent Lovie Simone).
In this modern reimagining, brought to life by brilliant writer and TV creator Mara Brock Akil, we follow the soul-stirring romance of Justin and Keisha in 2018-2019 Los Angeles, during their final years of high school. Their epic story unfolds over the whirlwind of emotions that come with experiencing those capital-F firsts together — insecurities, anxiety, confusion, embarrassment.
But as the two try to branch out on their own, they realize just how deep their love runs. And how it’ll change their lives forever.
Cooper was particularly drawn to “Forever,” in part, because Justin represented an emotionally complex character he had never encountered before, especially not a man.
“Most of the time, you see male leads as calm, cool, collected, not with a lot of inner life happening. But that’s not Justin,” he says. “Justin has ADHD. He struggles with a speech impediment. He has to have an executive functioning tutor … I’ve never seen anybody like him.”
He adds: “He’s a strange guy. And that’s a lot of the lines throughout the show. People are like, ‘You’re a strange cat, or you’re otherworldly. You’re a weird dude.’ Because he is weird, man, he’s weird in the best way.”
Cooper credits Brock Akil for turning Justin into a multidimensional character who’s “a bit more submissive” than his fiery, track star love interest. He says reading Blume’s book (after he booked the role) also helped inform that approach: “Just understanding what Mara wanted to do to use Justin and make sure that he reflects ‘the girl,’ and Keisha was ‘the guy.’”
The actor also took time to research before filming, since certain aspects of Justin’s background — like attending private school or being one of the few Black students at a predominantly white institution — didn’t align with his own lived experience.
“He’s so different than me,” Cooper shares. “I always say I’m a little bit more like Keisha. She knows where she wants to go, and she seems to be a little bit more in control. Justin is kind of all over the place.”
Other aspects felt more relatable, like experiencing heartbreak — “my ex-girlfriend, we split around that time [of filming], and I was able to use some of the life lessons and the pain” — and Justin’s struggles with ADHD — “I don’t have it as extreme as he does, but when I have tunnel vision for something, I have tunnel vision.”
Marrying these traits was essential to Cooper’s understanding of his character, particularly his emotional depth. Something intuitive told the actor that that element needed to be probed in a way that hadn’t been shown on modern television. Ultimately, it became his guiding light.
“Because it’s so prominent where guys are taught to suppress, suppress, suppress. Justin is emotionally vulnerable and available, and I think that could be a tool,” the actor notes. “A lot of things that I was able to use while playing him and exploit in this beautiful way, that also healed me.”
“It was a gift that I didn’t really know I needed.”
Brock Akil’s writing tends to have that effect on the stars of her shows. Gabrielle Union once called her titular news anchor role in “Being Mary Jane” “sort of a secret dream come true.” Wendy Raquel Robinson of “The Game” said her powerhouse character Tasha Mack gave her “so much weight not only as an actress but as a woman.” And “Love Is” star Michele Weaver said she prayed for the chance to portray a “complex and modern woman” like TV writer and hopeless romantic Nuri (who was inspired by Brock Akil’s real life).
Brock Akil has a knack for developing fully realized adult characters — her track record is proof. But “Forever” marks the superproducer’s first time speaking to a generation born around when her first TV hit was gaining traction. Usually, she speaks to audiences, mostly Black, of an older demographic, like Cooper’s mom and grandmother.
“They love ‘Girlfriends,’ ‘The Game,’ ‘Being Mary Jane’ — those were their shows,” the actor shares with a laugh. “Obviously, Mara’s work has spoken to so many generations already. But now, to speak to people in our generation, and to be a part of it, it’s just incredible.”
That’s an understatement. It’s not every day you work with someone as accomplished as Brock Akil, a two-time NAACP Image Award winner with over 30 years of industry experience. So I understand when Cooper says he was initially “petrified” on set, while also surrounded by veteran actors like Simone, Wood Harris (who plays Justin’s dad), Karen Pittman (Justin’s mom), Will Catlett (Keisha’s dad), Barry Shabaka Henley (her grandfather) and Regina King (who directed Episode 1 and sat in on Cooper’s chemistry reads).
“She would pull me aside and reassure me, like, ‘You are here for a reason, and we’re in this together,’” the actor says about Brock Akil’s advice. “Obviously, I’m new to the craft and new to shooting a television show. So that constant reassurance and her leadership really set the tone on the set.”
Cooper found much support from his co-stars, too, like Niles Fitch’s (who plays Justin’s charming best friend, Darius) industry talks, and Simone, who imparted some TV wisdom from her “Greenleaf” days. He had no idea what being No. 1 on the call sheet even entailed — citing Apple TV+’s recent documentary of the same name — until he sat down for his first “Forever” table read.
“I remember looking to Karen and Wood, who were sitting right next to me, and I was like, ‘I’ve never done this before. I’ve only been acting for two to three years, and I’m not classically trained.’ You know, the whole impostor syndrome thing,” Cooper vents. “They were very supportive and kind about it.”
“It was frightening,” he adds, “but when you start to get in the groove of it, it’s like, okay, we’re here.”
Those familiar with Blume’s “Forever” know how the literary classic was criticized for depicting teenage sexuality, long before society unclutched its pearls and started having more transparent, mainstream talks about sex. That’s why Brock Akil’s rendition feels not just timely but long overdue.
“Mara is brilliant. She really is,” Cooper emphasizes. “She knew exactly what society needed in this specific time, and to be able to serve in this way, it’s huge for me. I don’t take it lightly.”
“Forever” is certainly a departure from some teen dramas today, where the actors look too grown to portray the high school experience, or lack the space to capture the emotional intensity of a romance on the brink of adulthood.
In many ways, the show honors Blume’s boldness, with plenty of references to teen intimacy — viewers are sure to melt over the steamy scenes in “Forever.” It also builds a more self-aware world open to addressing modern issues, like a school sex tape scandal and an ADHD diagnosis — things that are common in everyday life but not often given a spotlight onscreen.
“Television has a way of glamorizing situations, and we don’t really hit the root of actual human experiences and truth,” Cooper points out.
The biggest difference between Brock Akil’s “Forever” and Blume’s version is how Black it is, and not just the cast and crew behind it. From praising HBCUs like Howard University and showcasing the Black side of L.A. to vacationing at the Black haven Martha’s Vineyard and having “the talk” about the harsh realities of being a Black boy in America, the visual and literal language of “Forever” is deeply rooted in cultural specificity — Brock Akil’s speciality.
“One of the [things] that Mara did so well, conveying through the show, was that she really captured the Black experience,” Cooper says, recalling a scene where Justin’s parents instruct their Black son how to conduct himself during a traffic stop: “Put your hands on the wheel. Don’t reach for your wallet.”
“That’s the same exact experience that I went through, that my parents instilled when I got my car at 16,” the actor adds. “That same conversation we had all the time … It was something that the show really explored, and I was able to take that with me and resonate with things from my past.”
Cooper didn’t always feel so connected to his “Forever” character. He’s quick to correct me when I say how comfortable he seemed portraying a character that comes off so relatable.
“My friend, I sent him the show, and he called me like, ‘Bro, that’s not you,’” the actor laughs at the memory. That aspect, he says, is also what attracted him to the role: “Because he’s so different.”
That’s one way to describe Justin.
Nuanced feels like a more fitting word to capture the complexity of his life in “Forever,” as his eight-episode arc shows him not only navigating his first real relationship but also the weight of identity and expectation.
Justin felt very familiar while watching the show. He’s a shy, nerdy teen with a learning disability, just trying to find his place in the world. He struggles to meet the high expectations of his wealthy, accomplished parents, Eric and Dawn (beautifully played by Harris and Pittman), while figuring out what he really wants out of life — whether it’s playing D1 basketball at a top-notch university, making cool beats for rappers or being with Keisha for the long haul.
“‘He has one foot in confidence and the other in insecurity,’” Cooper recalls the description Brock Akil wrote in the first script. “Sometimes he’ll word vomit something that’s like, ‘What are you talking about, dude?’ And it leads him into some sticky situations. But as the story progresses, you see him grow, and you start to see when he finds music and his purpose.”
He continues, “It was a very interesting thing to see him. I act like I didn’t play the character. And I know that sounds weird, but it’s like that watching [the show back] because you see him change, and it’s just a testament to how life is. The experiences that we experience change us.”
Cooper had his own coming-of-age moment during his pivotal high school years, too, but rather than his love life, his experience shaped his career.
“I was a very academic student,” the actor, who was also into sports, informs me when I ask how acting became his focus. “I always tell people that I was meant to be a lawyer or something else. I was even in college [at the University of Texas at Austin] while filming both movies [‘On the Come Up’ and ‘The Inhabitant’], studying political science.”
But the acting bug had already caught hold of Cooper when he was a kid growing up in Texas, and again during his sophomore year of high school after a teammate suggested he audition for the school play, “High School Musical.” Then, one day, Cooper asked one of his fellow castmates, who had been acting since he was 9, how he got into film. The rest, as they say, was history.
“That’s kind of how I took that leap,” Cooper concludes. “It just kind of happened, but it felt right internally.”
The actor had that same feeling years later, in early 2023, when he got the call to audition for “Forever.” The opportunity felt almost like divine timing since Cooper had just spoken about Blume’s work a month prior, when he was home in Dallas for Christmas. As he recalls, the acclaimed author’s name came up randomly during a conversation with his mom.
“I was like, ‘What kind of books were you into as a kid?’” Cooper remembers. “She was like, ‘Judy Blume!’”
I say that had to be the universe working in his favor, and he agrees, adding: “We talked about Judy Blume, not knowing that I was about to receive a script based on ‘Forever.’ It was kind of like this weird thing. I was like, Mom, we just had a conversation about this. It was happening.”
Things were going smoothly for Cooper after several rounds of virtual auditions. It wasn’t until he had to fly to L.A. for his first “Forever” chemistry read — in Brock Akil’s office — that nerves started to kick in.
“I thought I tanked it,” he admits. “I came in thinking, there’s no way I’m gonna get this. You know, I’m not a [well-known] name. I don’t have a résumé. I’m new. There’s just no way.”
Little did he know the universe was already at work again, sending him another sign that everything was falling into place — his future co-star, Simone, was on the same flight to L.A.
“I was in Atlanta at the time, so we flew together on a plane, and she sat right next to me, and I sat right next to her,” Cooper shares. “We didn’t say a word. We had our earbuds in. We had no idea [we would be co-stars].”
Even before they were cast as the swoonworthy couple Justin and Keisha, Cooper and Simone were building a rapport with one another, running lines at their hotel and chatting about how their auditions went.
“It was really just getting to know each other,” the actor says.
Almost the same way their characters get to know one another in the premiere episode of “Forever.”
There’s no doubt that Cooper has arrived. It’s still too early to predict how “Forever” will resonate with audiences, but the actor senses that the series is tapping into something groundbreaking.
At a time when young Black viewers feel overlooked and starved of everyday representation, especially in the realms of young-adult storytelling and romance, “Forever” feels like a breath of fresh air. It’s not lost on Cooper that he plays a powerful role in that.
“How grateful am I to be able to be a part of something that has such momentum and such great artists at the helm of it,” he says. “To hear the responses from people who’ve seen the show, I’m like, I’m glad you felt it.”
For Cooper, portraying Justin “was a dream,” one that challenged him to unlock new parts of his humanity. “Forever” certainly transformed his early 20s, but it’s bittersweet that the show wasn’t around for his teenage years.
“Being able to see a Black boy going through the same Black experiences living in America, that would have hit,” the actor says enthusiastically. “Those things that have been shown, but haven’t really been shown in this way or this capacity, I think, would have been really helpful. Even [seeing Justin] be so affluent and well off and all these things, our struggles are exactly the same.”
Cooper can’t go back and offer his teenage self the clarity that “Forever” now provides, but he takes pride in knowing he’s helping to create that space for others. At the very least, this current generation will have the new series to lean on.
Because at the end of the day, we all just want to feel seen. And now, thanks to “Forever,” more of us do.
All eight episodes of “Forever” are now streaming on Netflix.
Read the full article here
