Interview by Paul Salfen
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead and inspired by real-life events, NICKEL BOYS chronicles the powerful friendship between two Black teenagers who become wards of a juvenile reformatory in Florida. In breakout performances that cut to the bone, Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson play Elwood and Turner, whose close bond helps sustain their hope even as truths unfold around them at the Nickel Academy.
Featuring deeply felt supporting performances from Academy Award® and Emmy® nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Hamish Linklater, and Emmy nominee and Tony Award® winner Daveed Diggs, the film is directed by Academy Award nominee RaMell Ross (Hale County This Morning, This Evening), with an adapted screenplay by Ross and Academy Award nominee, PGA nominee, and Emmy winner Joslyn Barnes. Barnes produces alongside Academy Award winners Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner (12 Years A Slave, Moonlight), and David Levine. Cinematographer Jomo Fray, editor Nicholas Monsour, production designer Nora Mendis, set decorator Monique Champagne, costume designer Brittany Loar, composers Alex Somers and Scott Alario, makeup department head Ignacia Soto-Aguilar and hair department head Shan Williams, casting director Victoria Thomas, CSA, supervising sound editors/re-recording mixers Tony Volante and Daniel Timmons, sound mixer Mark LeBlanc join Ross behind the camera.
