Director Remmel Ross, and his stellar cast of Brandon Wilson, Ethan Harris, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor sat down with us in Telluride months ago to discuss “Nickel Boys,” his adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that follows this The month is being released in theatres. , He tackled the film’s challenging subject matter, which was steeped in the history of black people in the American South.
This interview has been condensed for clarity.
Anjanue, I really want to talk with you about the strength and perseverance of Elwood’s grandmother Hattie. We all know black grandmothers don’t talk about their grandchildren or anyone else in their family. Yet Hattie wanted to make sure her grandson understood his lineage. Who did this for you? And how did that help you reach Hetty?
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor: This was my grandmother. She was not an emotional or weak woman at all. She was a very calm person and she expressed her love towards me that way. My grandmother would never say, ‘Girl, I love you.’ You know what I mean? But he expressed it in the things that he did. She was the wife of a man who was a pastor at four different churches. It was the utmost respectability that was expected and she brought it.
I recently heard this story about him: I was supposed to say a poem at church on Sunday night, but there were heavy storms, tornadoes in the area. She did not want to go because the weather was very bad. So, finally she said, ‘Okay, girl, I’m going to take you here so you can say this poem.’
As we were leaving the house, the car got stuck in the mud, and my grandmother, who might have been in her late 60s, early 70s, pulled the car out of that mud and took me to the church. Went so that I could say that poem. Now, I didn’t know or realize what he did at the time. I was just watching him do it. He didn’t tell me to get out of the car and help me. He just did it. That was his way of showing love towards me and now I understand that it is a necessary thing to do. There is no reward. It is very important to Hattie to keep her grandson safe.
What’s up with that crocodile? Is it symbolic of something that is happening within the scope of the film’s story or is it specifically meant to represent a specific character in the film?
rammel ross: I love the way you expressed it because you positioned the crocodile as both a symbol and a metaphor for the experience, a kind of looming fear. The confusion and slight confusion that surrounds systemic racism. A few years ago I learned some information that was very scary to me, which was that black children were used as alligator bait in Florida. The trauma of the way that vulgar truth of our history no longer participates in everyone’s understanding of the travesty of the facts of the time is lost to history. That, for me, became an object, a thing, a symbol or a metaphor that I see integrated into American culture in really interesting ways that pays cinematic dividends. The crocodile is such a terrifying animal – we had to find ways to incorporate it to represent what these two boys were up against in the movie.
I think it’s really interesting that Elwood’s point of view spans half of the movie from the beginning to him coming of age and the movie turning around. Why did you make that artistic choice?
RR: We wanted to explore what it would be like for Elwood to come into his adult life through his own vision. So, when you’re a kid, you spend a lot of time observing the world because you’re little. We had to bring the camera down to her level where the world seemed innocent and childlike and all the things that happen from that perspective and not at nearly the same intellectual level as adults.
So, when the scene with the cake happens, at the end of it, she talks about how your pain is part of you. What does that phrase mean to you now, for your two characters on their journey in this film, and now being on the other side of it?
Ethan Harrise: God, for me, as Ethan, it’s really heartbreaking, because it feels like something that was put on me from birth, just being born a black person and coming into this world that way. seen. It’s like it automatically comes with the territory in a lot of different ways. I think that’s what it means for Ethan.
With Elwood, I think it makes more sense toward the end of his journey. I’m thinking about that special moment when on inspection day they were serving ice cream and you see all the guys celebrating with Turner and Elwood sharing that look. I feel like this will be the moment where it really happens to him
Brandon Wilson: The way he looked at Turner in that moment, it was like, OK, you’re not here with me. I think that line, part of your pain, comes from what’s been imposed on you. I think my interpretation of it, it’s beyond Black, it’s beyond anything specific. It’s like, you’re going on this ship and now you have to start recognizing the world as this different thing. And this is it, and it’s painful because it’s wrong – all these concepts come into play, whether it’s black or white, all those things. So, I interpret that phrase as simply recognizing that your part of the pain is not the whole.
Turner often says during this film, you have a family, you have people who care about you. So, as an audience we get the impression that he is like that in his own right.
bw:Yeah, I think like a lot of people, he’s accepted it as the reality of this pain, this cage that he’s been put in. I think he sees it as his only reality. He’s smart and intelligent enough to size up the perimeter of this cage, but he thinks these walls are the only thing… There’s nothing outside of them until Elwood comes in and starts scaring him and He says, ‘Oh, stop, stop, stop, stop stop.’ It starts to kind of disintegrate, and then I think that’s when a little bit of light comes in.
RR: This is good.
We live in a time right now where politicians are trying to erase black history from America. They are trying to make it seem as if we don’t exist. He has adopted selective amnesia. So, when one of the professors in the movie says, ‘Imagine a textbook with nothing to cut.’ Given the times we are living in and experiencing right now, how do you all feel about that line?
RR: I think maybe people who are in a constant state of fighting for what we believe to be true and factual need to think beyond the circumstances of the moment, which feels like the impossible. Because with all this oppression and all this false narrative, it’s very easy to keep moving forward and not think about the long term. Like plant trees. Plant trees for your children and grandchildren to sit on. I think it’s very devastating and it’s more natural for people to have Turner’s view of the world than Ellwood’s. I think we naturally fight for our individual survival and the ability to eat and do things that can keep us alive, but fighting progress against something that centralized white ideology created. Well, it’s almost unimaginable. This is really a very difficult task. And so, I think, the question is to think beyond your context and the world at large. Think big.
BW: I’ve thought a little about the textbook question. No matter what you’re writing or choosing to write, there’s always something you’re choosing not to write. There’s always something you’re missing.
RR: I think this goes back to your second question, kind of part of your pain. We need to recognize that whoever is telling these stories has to have this awareness that is shaping our society and is shaping the way that we are viewed as all people – that we have There is still the ability to recognize that we are beyond the story. We are beyond this part of what we have been given. So people can keep writing what they want to write, but we can recognize: ‘I’m not limited to these words. I am not limited to this story. It’s just a piece.’
We are not limited to just what is being written, what is being written and what is not being written. I think it’s just about discovering the truth. This is another important aspect of the story: forcing the audience to deal with difficult truths with these images. So, imagine a textbook with none of this cut out. Imagine something where you are provided with only the truth, which everyone deserves. It’s crazy that a line like that has to be said, and it’s true for everyone. Even now, where certain books are being banned in some places, really important stories are being erased. This is untrue and it honestly isn’t fair to anyone. This is completely detrimental to us as people, as human beings.