Netflix Forever stars Michael Cooper Jr. and Lovie Simone play Justin and Keisha in the new adaptation of the Judy Blume classic, but they had their own meet cute before they even landed the roles.
“We first met on an airplane sitting next to each other, but we didn't even know,” Cooper Jr. says with a smile over Zoom, a few days after the global release of Forever. “We were both sitting next to each other with our earbuds on, had no idea who the other person was. We were flying to LA [to audition for the show]… and we ended up getting it [together].”
Forever is created, adapted, written — and at times, directed — by TV titan Mara Brock Akil, the force behind some of the most iconic television shows in the Black screen canon. Girlfriends, The Game, Being Mary Jane, and Love Is are all Akil, who notably got her start in the writers rooms of other Black legacy titles like Moesha and The Jamie Foxx Show.
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Akil’s version of Forever expertly preserves the nerve wracking alchemy of first love pheromones Blume so accurately depicted in her 1975 banned book; there’s thrilling moments of tactile exploration, a stolen touch here, an awkward first attempt at intercourse, a comforting caress that says more than words ever could.
But Akil transforms Blume’s work by going wider and deeper. The choice to turn the book’s main characters (originally named Katherine and Michael) into young Black kids living in Los Angeles automatically offers new avenues of illustrating first love — and new obstacles and experiences to narratively navigate that are inherent to Blackness and Black youth.
Below, Teen Vogue sat down with Michael Cooper Jr., Lovie Simone, and Mara Brock Akil to talk dreams for Forever season 2, breathing life into Justin and Keisha, the crucial importance of seeing Black love onscreen, and why this show is necessary right now.
Mara Brock Akil: Oh, absolutely! The show is designed to go on. The show [was] also designed that if the audience doesn't want more, that's a beautiful ending. I also think this is an art form that demands an audience, and there was a global audience. The global audience has to decide if they love it enough to warrant a second season. [I was] just as curious if the audience wants more. It's designed to have more, love is ongoing! Just like the first season was full of dramatic twists and turns, wouldn't it be fun to consider what happens in the future?
Lovie Simone: I would start it maybe during the pandemic, because the pandemic is coming up in the world and the timeline of Forever. I would love to see what pandemic life would look like for Keisha and Justin. Are we pandemic baes? Are we rekindling? Did something happen? I would like to see it starting off in 2020. We have to see what happens right after! I don't want to jump a year, I don't want to jump two years. I want to see right after, let's pick up there. And I would keep it in LA — I love that Forever is also a love letter to LA.
MBA: Great talent. Iron sharpens iron, as they say, and you've got to start with the best people who are master craftsmen at their own storytelling, or certainly aspiring to [that]. I knew that talent was out there, and I know the person who could find them was [casting director] Kim Coleman. She was my first phone call — I really believe in the collaboration of this art form — and my second phone call was to Regina King, who has given us so many beautiful nuances in her performance[s] and the expression of her humanity. We've watched Regina King grow up on our screens, both small and big, and I wanted that institutional knowledge and [her] help to find those young actors who were ready, but who needed to be anchored into these characters, Justin and Keisha, for them to take flight.
That's what was top of mind. We need talent, dedication, hard work, willingness to be of service to the story. That's my first measure: Am I going to be of service to what Judy [Blume] did when she sat down in that chair 50 years ago? I have to be in service to that dedication, to that commitment, and then anybody you bring on board has to be a part of that. That's when the fun begins in making TV, it's not only what you're making, but who you're making it with. It's also important to find people who are just good people, who love what they do… I think we were so blessed to find a team of people in front of and behind the camera to do that.
LS: I read the sides and fell in love. I was like, “Whoa, I've never done something where it's just all this love. Usually love is a part of it, but this is just love.” And I really wanted to be a part of something that was a Black love story — if it was going to be me in it, it was going to be super Black. I was like, oh my God, this is amazing. [And with] Mara being attached to it, I was like, “I really need to sit down and try and get this role.” I remember buying the book and reading the book in one sitting.
Michael Cooper Jr.: I ended up submitting a tape. Maybe two months [later], my agent called me and he was like, “They want you to re-tape, and they have a few notes. Spit out your gum. Don't chew gum.” So I shot the tape again, and literally he called me late that night and was like, "Hey, so you're going to be on a plane to LA tomorrow to read for them." I ended up packing all my bags, but I woke up the next morning and my friend came downstairs and was like, "Bro, your car is gone."
Somebody had stole my car, and it was maybe six or seven hours before I had to catch the plane to LA. They violated like crazy! I just remember calling my mom, the cops got involved. Two hours before I had to catch my flight, they ended up finding my car, but it was completely dismantled. It was a Kia Optima, and these TikTokers named the Kia Boyz—
MCJ: The Kia Boyz got me! And my agent was freaking out. He was like, “Just get this part and you can get a new car!” It was a rocky start that day, but we got on the plane. I remember we went into Mara's office and it was three boys, three girls, and we were just reading with each other… I remember [thinking], “Okay, I did that, but I don't know if I got it. I'm pretty sure I didn't get it.”
But then Sanaa Lathan, who I worked with on another project, she called me and was like, "Mara Brock Akil is asking about you." And I was like, “What?!” I ended up going back out again [for it], me and Lovie read together, and [then] we ended up getting it.
We first met on an airplane sitting next to each other, but we didn't even know [at the time]. We were both sitting next to each other with our earbuds on, had no idea who the other person was. We were flying to LA. I got dropped off at the hotel first, and I see another car pull up behind me, and she gets out. I was like, “Wait, what?” We didn't read together [that first day], but after we finished the audition, because we were staying at the same hotel, we ended up getting Cava and just chatting about how we did. And then we ended up being invited to the next rounds of auditions… we were up in each other's rooms eating Wendy's, going over sides, and we ended up getting it.
LS: It does sound like it, huh? I do believe in it. I do believe in it. I think we were meant to be Keisha and Justin together, for sure.
MBA: Yes. When Kim sends over the tapes and somebody can pop off the tape, that's wonderful. The test is putting them in the room together. Soon as we put Michael and Lovie together, I remember Regina [King] and I tried to play it off because you don't want to give it away, but I remember looking to her, and she looking to me like [makes wide-eyed facial expression]. The goosebumps came. When I would watch their performance, I was inspired to write even better, but also write to their rhythms. If I'm willing to move in that direction, I know I have something special.
Their chemistry was off the charts when they first met in the audition process. Love is magical, from the first time you see the molecules change in the room when you see somebody that [makes] your heart sort of flutter about. That can also happened in the casting process, and that's what happened.
LS: Have I… ? Oh, my gosh, I think I have! Teenage love is one of those things, it really is there to show you who you are and how you grow up in life. It's a very beautiful thing to play a role that makes me think back to a time in my life where all of these things are happening for the first time. It felt very explosive.
MCJ: Justin loves Keisha down, man. He loves Keisha. I don't think I've met... I don't think I was as in love [with my first love] as Justin is with Keisha. I had love for her more on a level of friendship than I was in love with her. But there was this girl that I was friends with that I also had a deep connection with… so I don't know if I've met my Keisha just yet. I thought at the time I met my Keisha, but you never know. I may meet her [soon]. I guess we'll see!
MCJ: I did theater in the church and in high school, but I wouldn't consider myself a theater kid. I grew up playing sports primarily, but film and TV have always been this thing that internally that I was like, "Oh, that's interesting." But it didn't feel like it could happen just because my family's not a part of it, and my friends and I didn't have connections or we didn't know how to go about it. I always tell people I meant to be a lawyer. That was my plan, I was going to go to law school. I'm still technically in college, but I was doing political science.
It wasn't 'til 2020, I graduated high school early and I was like, "I want to do this acting thing." And everybody was like, “You're insane. What are you talking about?” I went to Atlanta and ended up booking my first movie that same year, second movie that second year, and Forever, I got at the top of 2023. One of my mentors, Sanaa Lathan, she says it's like a quantum leap.
LS: I always wanted to be an actor. I started acting while I was living in New York, so a lot of my experience attached to the industry growing up was me leaving school maybe a period or two early to go audition in the city. When I did move upstate, I would still leave school early to take the Greyhound to Port Authority, and go further into the city for auditions.
LS: As a child, I loved to showcase my range. There was really extreme stuff. So, I was watching stuff like Léon: The Professional, Crooklyn. And then on the other side, it would be like, That's So Raven, The Cheetah Girls, just real Disney kid stuff or real dark — like, “Let's watch all of Denzel and Angelina Jolie's movies, let's do it right now.”
MCJ: I loved watching The Cosby Show, A Different World. I was into superheroes. I was into Batman and Marvel stuff, love Spider-Man. Would love to play Miles Morales, throwing that out there just! The one film that really actually inspired me to get into acting was this A24 film Waves. There's something so beautiful about the acting from Taylor Russell and Kelvin Harrison Jr., and I was like, "Oh my God, Black kids doing this level of work?" And I was like, “I need to do it.”
LS: Denzel. Denzel. Denzel all the way. There's no other one. It was Denzel. Yes. I really admired his career, I admired every time he walked on to the camera. I feel like his presence is very inspiring on set because there's a lot of whatever he's bringing. No matter what he's bringing, he's bringing a lot of it. I really appreciate that as an actor. That's something that I aspire to do in my craft, I want people to know that every time I show up, it's about to be something big.
MCJ: Denzel is my favorite. He's one of my favorite actors. But I love Daniel Kaluuya, [too]. I love his body of work. I love his choices. He's brilliant in his own right. If I had to pick one, probably Denzel just because I watch most of his movies. The level of work that he does for each and every project, he's one of those actors where he just deeply cares about the material and serving it in the best possible light. I really respect that. Faith is huge for me, and I also know faith is huge for him. I respect how he moves and navigates and how he inspires.
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MBA: When you get the chance to interpret work by Judy Blume, you want to make sure you are pleasing her. Sometimes you have to get over your people pleasing of others and making sure that you are pleasing the story. Sometimes that takes a few iterations. I'm really thankful to Netflix, thankful to Judy Blume, thankful to all of those partners, but it's now in my hands and I've got to be true to the story to lead a group of artisans and storytellers for us to do our best work.
MCJ: Honestly, he scared me at first, Because he's such an emotional and vulnerable guy, he's not [like] me. I had the prejudice and the fear of like, "My guys are going to make fun of me for [playing] him." He's such a different type of dude and someone you typically don't see as a leading man. He's not super suave, he's not super sexy. He's just this awkward kid. But there was something really brilliant about Mara's writing, where she said he had “one foot in confidence and the other foot in insecurity.”
That really struck me internally… I really do think that if I saw Justin on my screen growing up, I think I would feel less alone because the world, it beats all of us down, but especially Black men. We're taught to suppress, suppress, suppress, suppress. Justin was this gift that I was given to be able to heal emotionally from past things and to express things that I don't think I would have ever discovered if I hadn't played him.
LS: She excited me because usually with roles that talk about cute, young girlfriends, there's not too much life that's explored with them. It was very nice and comforting to come across a script that [gives] Keisha this entire life, the family, trauma, triumphs, and just story. And there was so much body that, as an actor, you can't move away from. This is one of the opportunities that you look for as a creative in this industry. You want to tell stories. With Keisha, there was so much story and all of these human emotions that I wanted to experience with her.
MBA: Oh my God, you're going to do this to me? There's so many of them… I love Black prom. I love that a Black narrative took over the Santa Monica Pier and that we took up that much space to honor that sort of Black prom culture that sometimes we know exists, but doesn't ever make it to the large stage to be celebrated. Those Black and brown children were just beautiful on screen.
MBA: I really want to shout out Yasin and the generosity that he offered me. He was the first person to read my script for the authenticity, and he gave me a big thumbs up, gave me some tweaks. Even prior to the script, I asked him to make me some playlists so that I could embody the characters. He made me playlists for what Justin [and] Keisha would be listening to, then he made me a third playlist about what the love songs were of the [modern] day.
That was very informative and empowering for me… he also let me borrow from his life of having a D1 basketball dream and then pivoting and finding his way to music. He allowed me to have that, and I'm really thankful for that… shout-out to Yasin. Him offering some of his own tracks and giving them to Justin was a gift to me and ultimately a gift to the show.
MCJ: [After] combing through the script and reading it multiple times, I'm able to feel what the words are saying. I journal, I make playlists, and then I go out into the world. For Justin specifically, I went to private schools that were predominantly white and I met with kids. It was Black students, and they were Justin's age, and a lot of them were on the basketball team. They were the only Black kids in their white class. They were telling me stories and I was able to pull from those things.
LS: I wanted to do it with a lot of care, only because this subject could easily be perceived in a way that doesn't allow grace for Keisha. For me it was keeping her innocence in this. It's a period of her life that's very advanced and fast-paced. It was really [about] being true to the moments that a person lives through when they're experiencing feelings of oppression, depression, anxiety.
MCJ: For Mara Brock Akil to be at the helm of something this great… she has impacted culture for so long, and her shows are so generational, it's surreal to even be a part of it. To be able to work with Regina King as the director for the first episode, an Oscar-winning actress, it's amazing… it's great being such a newcomer and working with all these heavy-hitters because you learn a lot. And then to show up on a set and see people that look like you? Come on. It's funny because I don't really have anything to compare it to. This is the norm [for me]. And my co-stars are like, “Michael, I'm telling you it's not the norm, man.”
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They've all dropped gems. From Karen [Pittman] to Wood [Harris] to Sanaa [Lathan] to Regina. Just yesterday, I was on FaceTime with Karen. She was like, “Get out and do everything. Just in case the show blows up and you can't go anywhere, go out and experience.” Tomorrow I'm planning on a hike and going swimming, exploring LA… I'm going to go to a grocery store, for sure.
MCJ: Currently I'm up for something that is completely opposite than Justin. I'm taking my time, choosing the project that I want to invest in next. I'm being more selective, because I want to be passionate about it. I want to explore and investigate people because that's ultimately why I got into the craft: to serve. When I watched Waves, it really impacted me emotionally in a way that I was like, “Okay, I lowkey want to do that for someone else.”
LS: What's next for me is currently a movie that I don't think anyone is expecting. I can't talk about it. I am having fun! I will say this little tiny teaser: I definitely lost an entire nail. When I say the nail is gone, I mean it is just a bed of meat, and it was very painful. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into my project and I just need everyone to know that we got the shot. We got the shot! I lost my nail, but we got the shot! I am a down actress. I'm down. Committed.
MCJ: I have a flip phone. [Laughs] I've never been big on social media or technology at all. It just helps me with clarity. I'm faith driven, so spiritually it helps me stay clear so I don't get mesmerized or distracted by the noise. My friends don't always love it. [Laughs] Being around friends, family who know me and who've grown up with me, I think that keeps me [grounded, too]. Because when I go home, my mom is like, "Take out the trash." It doesn't matter. I can do all the photo shoots and all the interviews and get dressed up and eat all the fancy food, but when I go home, I'm back to “Mac,” which is what my family calls me.
MCJ: I hope Forever impacts the world in a way that opens up conversation around the youth regarding racial, social, sexual exploration… I really hope what resonates with people on, honestly, a spiritual level [is that] self-love is the best love. I think Mara does such a beautiful job at showing that everything you need is already here [points to self]. It's already inside of you, and all you have to do is access it… These are just two kids living their lives, and they just so happen to be Black kids. I hope it hits.
LS: I want Forever to [lead] another wave of Black culture. There's so much going on right now and we're not able to highlight Black love, and not just in the romantic sense, but in the familial sense, in the self-love sense. To be able to have people remember the range in love, especially when it's in regards to Black lives, I would love for that to be its legacy.
Netflix Forever is now streaming.
These interviews have been combined and edited for clarity.
Photography Mitchell
Stylist Kimberly Goodnight
Groomer Natasha Greissing for Exclusive Artists
Location AE Studio
