"There's Nothing but Anxiety and Dread": 'Nickel Boys' Director RaMell Ross on Oscar-Nomination Morning Jitters
In this exclusive Collider interview, director RaMell Ross talks about Nickel Boys' two Oscar nominations and his film's unique look.
Of all the Best Picture nominees at this year's Academy Awards, it's possible that director RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys is the most distinct. Adapted from Colson Whitehead's novel, Ross' film tracks two African-American boys, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), who are sent to an abusive juvenile reform school during the 1960s. Both the film and the book are partially based on the real-life horrors of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, a Florida reform school where abuse, torture, and even murder went on for decades unimpeded. Ross tracks the boys' poignant and heart-breaking journey by making their eyes the audience's eyes, as Nickel Boys presents its story from a first-person point-of-view that bounces back and forth between the two characters. The audience only sees what they see.
