This article is sponsored by Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios.
To recall a scene from “Nickel Boys,” praised as one of the year’s best films, is to be replanted in it. Like a waking dream, it is as though you had not just watched the story, but lived it. That’s the lyrical effect of RaMell Ross’ adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Colson Whitehead novel about two African American boys bonding at an abusive reform school in 1960s Florida. The film, lensed by award-winning cinematographer Jomo Fray, is shot from a first-person perspective; instead of watching characters experience life, the viewer sees the world through the characters’ viewpoint.
“What RaMell was trying to do was give Black people interior lives,” says Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who plays staunch and loving grandmother, Hattie. “To not just be objects onscreen. To not just be seen on camera, but to see. How does the world look through a Black person’s eyes?”
Most often, the viewer is watching the narrative unfold from Elwood’s vantage, Hattie’s kind and ambitious grandson, played with elegance by Ethan Herisse. At the titular Nickel Academy, Elwood befriends Turner (the charismatic Brandon Wilson), who helps him navigate tough schoolmates like Griff (Luke Tennie) and the brutish white administrator Spencer (Hamish Linklater). It’s a rich ensemble, rounded out by Daveed Diggs playing adult Elwood and Fred Hechinger as Harper, a young staffer at Nickel who’s not quite what he seems.
“Nickel Boys” has had a wondrous upward journey since its August debut at the Telluride Film Festival, lauded as one of the best films of the year by several critics groups and the American Film Institute. It’s also picked up numerous awards and nominations, including a recent Golden Globe nomination for best picture in the drama category and five nominations at the Critics’ Choice Awards, including best picture and best supporting actress for Ellis-Taylor. It’s already garnered two wins at the Gotham Awards for best director and best breakthrough performer for Wilson.
In an interview with Backstage, the cast of “Nickel Boys” gets candid about the whirlwind journey of the project, the surreal (and practical) approach to shooting a first-person film, and the scenes that gave them goosebumps—including, but not limited to, the day they shot a scene with a real-life alligator.