Jonathan flew to California to audition for the role in When We Rise. Though he'd planned on staying in a hotel room, he discovered too late that he didn't have enough money in his bank account to cover the cost. "I was so broke, I couldn't pay for a hotel that I thought I could pay for," he told Variety during a November 2019 interview. "I'm like, f*ck it, I'll just walk around San Francisco at night running lines. [But] my new manager called them and somehow convinces these guys to let me stay and give me a room, puts her credit card down. And so I go in [for the audition] and there's nothing but love."