‘Nickel Boys’ director RaMell Ross seeking $10 million investment for next two projects: “It has to be philanthropic”
Director RaMell Ross, whose critically acclaimed drama Nickel Boys was nominated for two Oscars at last weekend’s ceremony, has said that he already knows his next two projects, but that he’ll need financial backers who are willing to not recoup their investment.
Nickel Boys is based on Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead’s novel The Nickel Boys, and centres on two Black boys in the 1960s who are sent to a brutal boarding school in Florida based on the notorious Dozier School For Boys. It earned rave reviews when it was released at Telluride and was nominated for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ and ‘Best Picture’ at the Oscars.
Despite its near-universal praise, however, Nickel Boys was not profitable. Made with a budget of $23.2 million, it earned $3.2 million at the box office. In an interview on the red carpet with the Hollywood Reporter before the Oscars, Ross said that he already knew what his next two projects are going to be and that he knows they will not be commercially successful. Still, he argued, that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth making.
“I think I’ve made enough films for people to say that I can make things relatively well,” he said. “So I’m asking someone to give me $10 million for two projects. Both of them, I think, have long cultural lives, but it has to be philanthropic because it’s not really a return. But I think they’re deep in meaning and can change a lot of people’s view on the world.”
Ross’s track record is stellar. He’s made two feature-length films, both of which were nominated for Academy Awards. His directorial debut, 2018’s Hale County This Morning, This Evening, earned him a Peabody Award as well as an Oscar nomination for ‘Best Documentary Feature.’ However, his movies are not blockbusters.
Ross has already written both projects that he’s hoping to make, but is waiting for the funding to get them underway. After the triumph of Anora, a $6 million independent movie that won five Oscars, there is more discussion in Hollywood than ever about indie cinema, though it remains to be seen whether it will constitute a shift in where producers put their money.
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