Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Colson Whitehead, Nickel Boys chronicles the powerful friendship between two young African American men navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida.
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.
Nickel Boys is a 2024 American historical drama film based on the 2019 novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. It was directed by RaMell Ross, who co-wrote the screenplay with Joslyn Barnes, and stars Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.
The story follows two African American boys, Elwood and Turner, who are sent to an abusive reform school called the Nickel Academy in 1960s Florida. The film is inspired by the historic reform school in Florida called the Dozier School for Boys, which was notorious for abusive treatment of students.
Shot in a first-person point-of-view, filming took place in Louisiana in late 2022. Nickel Boys had its world premiere at the 51st Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2024. It is scheduled to be the opening film at the 62nd New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall on September 27, 2024. It is set to have a limited theatrical release in the United States by Amazon MGM Studios on October 25, before streaming on Prime Video. It is set to be released by Curzon Film in the United Kingdom on November 8, 2024.
Nickel Boys (2024)
Directed by: RaMell Ross
Starring: Ethan Herisse, Ethan Cole Sharp, Daveed Diggs, Brandon Wilson, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Jimmie Fails, Taraja Ramsess, Zachary Van Zandt
Screenplay by: RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes
Production Design by: Nora Mendis
Cinematography by: Jomo Fray
Film Editing by: Nicholas Monsour
Costume Design by: Brittany Loar
Set Decoration by: Monique Champagne
Art Direction by: Elizabeth Herberg
Music by: Alex Somers, Scott Alario
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material involving racism, some strong language including racial slurs, violent content and smoking.
Distributed by: Amazon MGM Studios
Release Date: August 30, 2024 (Telluride), October 25, 2024 (United States)
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