RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys is an incredible film adapted from the novel by Colson Whitehead. The film follows two teenagers at a reform school in north Florida, where they are subjected to brutal treatment. 

Nickel Boys Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson Interview

In the film, the protagonists Elwood and Turner are played by Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson, respectively. Elwood and Turner become friends at Nickel Academy, but in many ways, they also serve as foils to each other. We asked Herisse and Wilson about how they created the delicate dynamic between their characters.

“I mean, luckily, it’s written in there. It’s in the script,” says Wilson. “Then we just get to do that, explore that, and what it might feel like, what it might look like in different ways. We get different takes to explore it differently, and we both brought an understanding to the scenes, and then you meet and you do the thing.”

“I think because these are two really intelligent characters that have had pretty different experiences, they’re smart enough to know that their ideologies clash,” Herisse adds. “But also respect each other and respect that the other is an intelligent person, especially in this space where their intelligence isn’t really able to thrive.”

Brandon Wilson stars as Turner in director RaMell Ross’s NICKEL BOYS, from Orion Pictures. Photo credit: Courtesy of Orion Pictures. © 2024 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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One of the most impressive things about Herisse and Wilson’s performances is the complexity of emotion. Underneath the deep fear is also a powerful undercurrent of hope. We asked about how they found the emotional nuance in their characters.

“I think it just comes from being present,” says Herisse. “Everything was provided for us in the space that they were in — what we shot for the physical Nickel Academy, the actual white house that was built by the production designer — all we had to do was bring our work to the space and then be present and open to everything that was happening around these two boys and was happening to them as well.”

“And so with that, I think those nuances are going to come up,” he continues. We’ve been talking a lot about Elwood’s resilience, but Turner is also resilient — it just shows in a different way. So I think you are going to find things like hope amongst all the fear and complex emotions that they’re experiencing at Nickel.”

In the film, Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) plays an adult version of Elwood. We asked the young actors about how much they got to work with Diggs to ensure continuity in their characters.

“Yeah, like none,” says Wilson with a laugh. “But he has spoken on like he got to watch film, and he was talking about exploring how — not to give too much away — how he would sit, what his shoulders would be doing, and just trying to see who he was embodying. But yeah, not to give any spoilers, there’s no time that either one of us sat with him to explore what that physicality was like.”

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor stars as Hattie in director RaMell Ross’s NICKEL BOYS, from Orion Pictures. Photo credit: Courtesy of Orion Pictures. © 2024 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Nickel Boys Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Interview

Playing Elwood’s grandmother, Hattie, is the legendary Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (King Richard), who gives a beautiful performance. In the film, which is often dark, she serves as a bright spot of hope and humanity. We asked her about playing this source of hope:

“Honestly, the way that I look at it, I think people who see the film — they’re the hope of the film, you know?” says Ellis-Taylor. “Because I think it’s the kind of filmmaking where you’re a participant, you’re not an observer. And that’s RaMell’s genius in how he shot the film.”

“So Hattie is a presence for Elwood, because she has to offer him the possibility of seeing another day outside of this hell hole that he’s in, she continues. “And she just is in love with her grandson. And the love in this child’s life, it just reminds us that all of these children who were in that situation, they all had somebody who cared for them somewhere. Somewhere that there was a possibility, just a possibility, of love, and them being in that situation just robbed everyone of that life. So, yeah, that’s what Hattie offers.”

Another thing that makes Nickel Boys notable is that it is shot with a point-of-view approach. We asked Ellis-Taylor how this unique shooting style affected her craft as an actress.

“A lot of it had to require a lot of focus,” she says. “The technical part of it, standing in one place — you can’t move because if you move a little bit, you’re going to get a reflection and you have to start all over again because it’s all shot in one shot. So that required a lot of focus, but also was, after a certain point, very liberating because RaMell trusted us, trusted our emotions, trusted what we brought to it with who we were.”

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor stars as Hattie in director RaMell Ross’s NICKEL BOYS, from Orion Pictures. Photo credit: Courtesy of Orion Pictures. © 2024 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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However, the most stunning thing about Ellis-Taylor’s performance is how well she connects with the film’s two young leads — not just Ethan Herisse, who plays her grandson, but also Brandon Wilson, who plays his friend. We asked how she was able to achieve such wonderful chemistry with the duo.

“I mean, look at them,” she concludes. “That’s who they are. So that’s kind of the easy part of it. I looked at Brandon and was crushed, do you know what I mean? I looked at him and wanted to hug him, so I can’t really take credit for that. It was easy work.”

Nickel Boys opens in theaters on December 13.
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