Fred Hechinger teases “brutal” fight scenes in “Gladiator 2”

RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys” opened opening night of the 62nd annual New York Film Festival on Friday, September 27th. The film chronicles the powerful friendship between two young black men who together overcome the harrowing trials of reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. IndieWire caught up with the director and stars on the film’s NYFF red carpet.

RaMell Ross directed his first feature film and explained why Colson Whitehead’s 2019 novel The Nickel Boys inspired him to make the project. “Colson’s narrative power captivated me as much as any other reader,” he said. “I’ve never read a book and thought about adapting it. That’s not my thing. I kind of wondered what Elwood would look like, at some point [when] He realized he was black or racist. In the context of Colson’s story, it’s such a beautiful idea.”

Before doing the project, Ross said he contacted Whitehead. “We wrote a few emails and he gave me his best wishes.”

With four films being released this year, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor hopes audiences have a “special” response to this story. “It’s about some children who didn’t get the justice that they should have gotten,” she said. “They were ignored and subjected to a lot of violence and brutalization, and I think that’s something we should all know about and do something about.”

Since the film was told from a compelling first-person perspective, she also spoke about a particular challenge that came with the role. “Normally you shouldn’t look at the camera,” Ellis-Taylor said. “My director said, ‘Look at the camera.'”

Most of us should walk Ethan Herisse through Ava Duvernay’s 2019 limited series When They See Us, in which he played Yusef Salaam. Five years later, he delivered another extremely raw performance in Nickel Boys and reflected on the joys of both projects, including how drawn he was to such emotionally demanding roles.

“It’s an insane privilege to have been a part of something like ‘When They See Us’ and something like that, both on super important projects with the cast and through the directors from top to bottom,” Herisse said. “It was a real privilege. Yes, there is something there, I think.”

“Working with RaMell is a pleasure,” he said. “He is one of the most incredible people I have ever met. He’s a genius, but he was great at making us feel comfortable and letting us know he trusted us. And I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that when you have a vision like his, you can move forward with confidence. If you move forward with confidence and trust the people you work with, things will come together like they did in this film.”

Daveed Diggs and Fred Hechinger also praised their director. “He’s completely fearless,” Diggs said. “The atmosphere he creates on set is one where you’re not even aware that what you’re doing is difficult. He set himself an impossible task. Every day we were there I felt like that’s exactly how you make films.”

“I learned a million things from him every day,” Hechinger said. “I think when you feel a story you have to think about every aspect of it, and RaMell experiments with every part of the narrative. Every choice means something. He is also just so brave as a person. I feel like I learned a lot of courage from him. We saw a lot of great films. We watched a lot of great clips. He’s like a documentary filmmaker, photographer, professor, film lover; His reach as an artist is multidisciplinary, which I think you can feel in the film.”

His co-star Brandon Wilson also quickly shut down the IndieWire interview, saying he “learned to love” from Hechinger. “I think every time you meet someone you have a connection with, you learn to love. I learned a lot from this guy.”

Just a few days ago, Amazon announced that Diggs would be in the fifth season of “The Boys.” Although he couldn’t tease much, he said, “It’s just a great group of people. Honest. This is actually true. Since I know a lot of people who worked on this show in various capacities, I’ve never heard anyone say they felt bad about it, and that’s kind of amazing. That’s why I’m happy about it.”

Hechinger will next be seen in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II. When asked about the fight scenes between Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, he said they were “brutal.” I can tell you, it’s very exciting and I’m excited for people to see it. We’re about to show it in a little more detail. So there’s a lot more to come.” Hechinger added that it was “amazing and wild” working with Scott.