RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys” kicked off the opening night of the 62nd annual New York Film Festival on Friday, September 27. The film chronicles the powerful friendship between two young Black men navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Jim Crow–era Florida. IndieWire caught up with the director and stars on the film’s NYFF red carpet.
Making his first fiction feature, RaMell Ross explained why Colson Whitehead’s 2019 novel “The Nickel Boys” inspired him to make this project. “Colson’s narrative power pulled me into it, as it pulled in every other reader,” he said. “I never have ever read a book thinking about an adaptation. That’s not my thing. I kind of wondered what Elwood would look like, and at one point [when] he realized he was Black or raced, in the context of Colson’s narrative, it’s such a beautiful idea.”
Before making the project, Ross said he connected with Whitehead. “We emailed a bit and he gave me his best wishes.”
With four films released this year, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor hopes that audiences “particularly” respond to this story. “It’s about some children who didn’t get the justice that they should have gotten,” she said. “They were ignored, subject to a great deal of violence and brutalization, and I think it’s something that we should all know about and do something about.”
With the film told in an absorbing first-person perspective, she also discussed a distinct challenge that came with this role. “You’re usually not supposed to look at the camera,” Ellis-Taylor said. “My director said, ‘Look at the camera.’”
Most of us were introduced to lead Ethan Herisse through Ava Duvernay’s 2019 limited series “When They See Us,” in which he played Yusef Salaam. Five years later, he’s given another extremely raw performance in “Nickel Boys” and reflected on the joy of both projects, including being drawn to such emotionally demanding roles.
“It’s an insane privilege to have been a part of something like ‘When They See Us’ and a part of something like this, both super important projects with the casts and through directors from top to bottom,” Herisse said. “It’s been a real privilege. Yeah, there’s something there, I guess.”
“Working with RaMell is a joy,” he said. “He is one of the most incredible human beings I’ve ever met. He is a genius, but he was so great at making us feel comfortable and letting us know that he trusted us. And I think the biggest thing that I learned is that when you have a vision like he had, move forward with confidence. If you move forward with confidence and you put trust in the people that you’re working with, things are going to fall together like it did with this movie.”
Daveed Diggs and Fred Hechinger also had nothing but praise for their director. “He’s totally fearless,” Diggs said. “The vibe he creates on set is one where you’re not even aware that what you’re doing is difficult. He set himself up an impossible task. Every day when we were there, it felt like this is just how you make movies.”
“I learned a million things from him every day,” Hechinger said. “I think when you feel a story, you have to think about every aspect of it, and RaMell experiments with every part of the narrative. Every choice means something. He also is just so courageous as a person. I feel like I learned a lot of courage from him. We watched a lot of great movies. We looked at a lot of great clips. He’s like a documentarian, photographer, professor, film lover; his reach as an artist is multidisciplinary, which I think you feel in the film.”
His co-star Brandon Wilson also quickly crashed IndieWire’s interview to say he “learned how to love” from Hechinger. “I think every time you meet someone you have a connection with, you’re learning how to love. I learned a lot from this guy.”
Just days ago, Amazon announced Diggs will be joining Season 5 of “The Boys.” Though he couldn’t tease much, he said, “It’s just a great group of people. Honestly. This is actually true. Knowing a lot of people who have worked on that show in various capacities, I’ve never heard anyone say they had a bad time on it, which is kind of an amazing thing to walk into. So I’m excited about that.”
Hechinger will next be seen in Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II.” Asked about the fight scenes between Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, he said they are “brutal. I can tell you it’s very exciting and I’m excited for people to see it. We’re about to start showing it a little bit more. So, a lot more is coming soon.” Hechinger added it was “amazing and wild” to work with Scott.
