Nickel Boys Director RaMell Ross Details The Challenges Of POV Shots & Breaks Down One Crucial Scene

Nickel Boys is set in Jim Crow-era Florida and follows two Black teens, Elwood Curtis and Turner, who must endure the brutal and heartbreaking conditions of Nickel Academy. Despite all of the horrors around them, Elwood seems to always believe justice will prevail, while Turner teaches survival through cynicism. Their friendship makes this movie exceptionally powerful.

Newcomers Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson Elwood and Turner in Nickel Boys, which also stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Daveed Diggs. Director RaMell Ross opted to tell this story in a unique way that makes the audience truly feel as if they are experiencing things right alongside the young boys. His decision to film the movie in point-of-view style makes it one of the standouts of the year. Nickel Boys is based on a book, which was inspired by a true story. It is now playing in New York theaters and opens in Los Angeles on December 20.

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ScreenRant interviewed Ross about Nickel Boys and what inspired his decision to film point-of-view style. Ross also discussed finding the perfect cast, especially Ethan Herisse as Elwood and Brandon Wilson as Turner, because the film would not work without their chemistry. Finally, the director broke down one of the key scenes of the film.

Filming Nickel Boys In Point-of-View Style Was The First Decision RaMell Ross Made

"During my photographic practice, I conceived of a point-of-view film, but never had a place for it, really."

ScreenRant: The POV perspective really puts the viewer into the story. Can you talk about when you made that decision and what inspired it?

RaMell Ross: The decision to film point-of-view was the first decision, and what inspired it is multifaceted. I think I can touch a couple of points. One is the nature of POV being the most familiar way that I see the world. And the characters being very similar to me and being able to imagine, quite literally alongside them, while reading. Also, I have an art practice and have been taking photos in Hale County, Alabama, and in the South for over a decade. During my photographic practice, I conceived of a point-of-view film, but never had a place for it, really, and just felt like it would be some art project. Because it seemed to me like to do, quote, unquote, point-of-view specifically in from the precision of a black man or a black person or a person of color was an intervention, if not a statement, to the relationship between the camera and people of color across the globe.

When Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson Got Together In Person, The Filmmakers Knew They Had A Movie

"I think we have to ask ourselves if I found them, or did they find me?"

ScreenRant: The movie really doesn't work without the chemistry between Ethan and Brandon. Can you talk about finding them?

RaMell Ross: Well, I think we have to ask ourselves if I found them, or did they find me? I said that so dramatically. Genuinely, they stood out. It's like you're looking at a field of trees and there's this one tree you can't take your eye off of, or there's one cloud that's more pronounced, or there's something that drew us to them. I can speak to their individual qualities, but we don't really have time. I will say, though, that they're exceptional in their casting tapes. And in person, they're even more exceptional. The combination of those two is when I think everyone and every producer knew that we had a film.

The White House Scene Forecasts What Is To Come... But It Wasn't Scripted

"It was an opportunity to connect the visual language here to the visual language that one would eventually see."

ScreenRant: Can you talk about the White House scene and filming that? Because it almost feels like Elwood detaches from his body.

RaMell Ross: No one's ever said that. Thank you. Yes. It's so obvious. I'm like, "Hey, guys, he's literally... Come on." It forecast the being separated from oneself, the out-of-body experience of not being whole or full or present that, of course, is Daveed's adult Elwood's entire life until he comes to terms with what's happened through all the digging he's done. It was definitely a breakthrough moment when that became something because that wasn't scripted. It was something that happened over the course of shot listing and going to the White House and walking through with the camera and then realizing that it was an opportunity to connect the visual language here to the visual language that one would eventually see. I won't say that it did inspire the Daveed one, but it clarifies it for the close watcher, you know?

More About Nickel Boys (2024)

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Elwood Curtis's college dream shatters alongside a two-lane Florida highway. Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he's sentenced to the netherworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory sunk deep in the Jim Crow South. He encounters another ward, the seen-it-all Turner. The two Black teens strike up an alliance: Turner dispensing fundamental tips for survival, Elwood, clinging to his optimistic worldview. Backdropped by the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence appear worlds away from Rev. Martin Luther King's burnished oratory. Despite Nickel's brutality, Elwood strives to hold onto his humanity, awakening a new vision for Turner.

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Nickel Boys is now playing in New York theaters and opens in Los Angeles on December 20.

Source: Screen Rant Plus