Interview: Oscar Nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor on the Unique Challenge of Filming Nickel Boys

Academy Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is sharing her transformative experience starring in the new film Nickel Boys, directed by RaMell Ross.

Based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the film follows two boys enduring the horrors of a segregated reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. Ellis-Taylor portrays Hattie, a grandmother whose journey underscores the generational impact of systemic injustice.

Highlighting her admiration for Ross’s groundbreaking work on screen, she recently sat down with TheaterMania to discuss the unique challenges of taking part in this deeply unconventional filmmaking process. From navigating discomfort on set to learning how to trusting the camera in new ways, Ellis-Taylor reflects on the emotional and artistic growth this adaptation brought to her career.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What made you want to take this role?
I just wanted to work with RaMell. I’m a believer in his work. I saw his documentary [Hale Country This Morning, This Evening] and just was gobsmacked by it. I didn’t know what he was going to do next. He’s a documentarian. I didn’t know if he would ever do a narrative film, but whatever it was, I wanted to be somehow a part of that. And then Nickel Boys came around.

Had you read the book The Nickel Boys before you encountered the screenplay?
No, I had not read the book. I intentionally didn’t read the book because I think books and adaptations are two completely different art forms. I didn’t want any sort of — not baggage, that sounds a little negative —I didn’t want to bring any expectations with me to filming.

Are you the kind of actor that does research into your roles?
As far as my understanding and information about the Dozier School, I had a superficial knowledge of it. There was a great 60 Minutes episode a few years ago that I watched, but I didn’t do a whole lot of research for this. The script was so detailed and textured that I didn’t have to find outside materials to know this world that they were creating. When you’re lucky to have some great words to say, that informs so much of what you do. You don’t have to look outside to fill the spaces.

It’s certainly not like anything I’ve ever seen before on screen. I’m curious what the shooting experience was like for you as an actor, and how it differed from a traditional experience.
It was very, very different. I was having to look at the camera. I haven’t had the best relationships with cameras in my career, to put that humbly.

Oh, stop.
No, I’m dead serious. I’ve never felt comfortable, ever. I’m always having to not look at the camera and here I am having to look at the camera, you know? It was exercising another muscle, and that muscle being trusting of this machine.

Were you acting and reacting to other actors on the other side of the camera in your face?
Yeah, but I couldn’t see them. There would be times when I didn’t know if Ethan [Herisse, who plays Elwood] was on set or not until I was done working.

That must’ve been fascinating and like terrifying at the same time.
A little bit. Oh, yeah.

What did it take for you as an actor and a person to gain the trust that the camera will be there for you?
I mean, I didn’t have a choice. That was the job. I couldn’t do a gentleman’s agreement with the camera. I just had to make it work as best I could. It was uncomfortable. It was very uncomfortable. And I think the discomfort I felt was appropriate. Hattie is very uncomfortable and feeling untethered.

What did you think of the finished product when you saw it?
I haven’t seen the whole thing. I’ve seen like maybe the first, I’d say 45 seconds to a minute of it. That image with Ethan’s arm, he’s lying on the ground, and you hear the birds, you hear the mosquitoes. I saw that little bit and it was gorgeous and intriguing.

What do you think you gained as an actor from this experience, given that it’s so different than what you’d done prior?
It just kind of showed me that I was capable of it. You know what I mean? I didn’t have any skepticism about it. I wanted to throw myself into it. I’m that kind of actor. I always do that. I’m not resistant to that kind of work. I’m glad that I didn’t question it.