When it premiered at the Telluride Film Festival over Labor Day weekend, writer/director RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys made a seismic impact upon the festival-savvy audience. Adapting Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Ross introduced audiences to the world of the Nickel Academy (a stand-in for the actual Dozier School for Boys) through the first-person perspective of Elwood and Turner. The end result is a deeply moving experience about the bonds formed during intensely traumatic circumstances.
Newcomers Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson play Elwood and Turner, respectively, and the experience will be one they will likely never forget.
“I saw it in a screening room completely alone, and I’m grateful for that, being alone in that first experience,” Wilson shared. “Afterwards, I felt like I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I felt like I wanted to process it all. It just sunk into our body. We all keep touching our stomach when we talk about it like it just settled in there. I felt drained and very vulnerable when I first saw it.”
The film’s perspective shifts between the two actors as they navigate the stories extremely emotional material, putting the audience squarely in the shoes of these two young men. We experience their attempts to not only survive but also remain human amidst torturous circumstances. This would be a daunting task for any actor, but to play these roles on their first major acting job is a commendable feat. That they do it so well proves their lasting talent.
Here, in an interview with The Contending, Herisse and Wilson talk about building that chemistry on which the film thrives. They talk about working with and learning from their Oscar-nominated co-star Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as well as working with writer/director RaMell Ross on his first narrative feature. They also reveal the challenges they experienced as actors portraying characters through the first person narrative the film employs. Finally, they share what they’ll take away from the film as they advance their careers on their next big role.
Check out the full interview with Nickel Boys Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson below.
Nickel Boys will premiere in New York on December 13 and in Los Angeles on December 20. It will stream exclusively on Prime Video at a later date.
