Interview with actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, in the movie Nickel Boys

Jake Fraczek with the Daily Bloid. Thank you for taking your time with me today. 

Thank you for wanting to take the time with me. 

Not detracting from your abilities, because you've certainly proven you bring a lot to the screen, but you're definitely known for some very powerful supporting roles. I think they hold a different function in films. What did you feel was necessary to illustrate in your role as Hattie, Elwood's grandmother? 

I wanted to...be a... I think I wanted to show how in love, I wanted to show how this child was loved. I wanted that to come out of every part of me. My smile, my eyes, the gaze, everything that was on screen. I wanted it to be a manifestation of love, that these children are not just products of a story, you know, or of a tragedy. They are children who come from homes that are invested in, you know, adoration and joy and happiness. And I just wanted her to convey that. 

The film's the stylistic concept explores the ideas of perception and experience for the audience, but also perception of storytelling overall. It could have different affects for black viewers and non-black viewers. The story's about so much, but in specific, the two protagonists, two young boys. Do you think there could be any different impact for male or female viewers? 

I hope not. I hope anybody who sees it. You know, one of the reasons that RaMell Ross, our director, shot it the way that he shot it is because he wanted to put us in the shoes of these children. He wanted us to feel what they were feeling. He wanted us to come into that theater and not be able to remove ourselves from what these children were going through. And I hope no matter male, female, you know, whoever you are, what you are at your core is still human. And I want and I hope that people will have a human response. And what I mean by that is we are sentient beings. We walk through the world being affected by things. You know, the sun, how the wind hits us. And being in the shoes of those children and going through their pain, no matter who we are. 

Being shot in that first person point of view to helped cement audiences in the shoes of the characters, feeling their experiences with them. During the filmmaking process, did you ever wonder what telling the story through that lens would add to, change, or take away from the overall story, versus if it had just been shot in a more conventional way? 

I wasn't aware of it at the time, but I'm very aware of it now. And I think there's a lot of lip service given to… there are more stories that need to be told like this, because we have this absence of information when it comes to this kind of brutality that has happened in America, right? But what RaMell does, is he's saying that it's not enough to fill that erasure with more stuff. We have to confront how we view it. We have to confront the camera itself as being complicit in the problem. And the problem being the violence, that the camera itself participates in that violence. So, yeah, I did not necessarily have that feeling at the time or that awareness at the time, but I certainly do now. And it is what is most exciting to me as someone who makes stuff and is a part of a community of people who made Nickel Boys. 

That was a beautiful answer. Thank you and congratulations on the film. 

I appreciate you. Have a good day

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