Nickel Boys
atomic number 28 Boysmight not be the biggest name among the movies nominated for Best Picture at the 2025 Oscars . But just by being nominate , RaMell Ross ’ second feature film has already achieve a feat that only a fistful of other motion picture in Oscars account have managed . It severalise the fictional story of Elwood , an African - American who grew up in the Southern United States during the Jim Crow era , and was unjustly sent to thereal - life reform shoal Nickel Academyduring his puerility .
Alongside Joslyn Barnes , Ross adapt the moving picture ’s screenplay from the 2019 novel of the same name by duple - Pulitzer Prize - winning author Colson Whitehead . In fact , The Nickel Boyswas the novel for which Whitehead advance his second Pulitzer Prize for fiction . As a resultant , he and RaMell Ross are achieving something at this year ’s Oscars thatonly one other pic in the twenty-first century has reach .
The Nickel Boys Is The 1st Adaptation Of A Pulitzer Prize Winner Since 2003 To Be Nominated For Best Picture
It’s The 2nd Movie To Have Achieved The Feat This Century
Ni Boysis thefirst flick for 22 years based on a Pulitzer Prize - come through novel to be nominatedfor the Best Picture Oscar . It ’s extremely rarefied for a story that receive the top fable - drop a line prize in the United States to become an Academy Award nominee as well . The last film to achieve this double feat was Stephen Daldry ’s dramaThe Hours , which was based on Michael Cunningham ’s novel of the same name about the life of Virginia Woolf , in 2003 . The movie is now synonymous with one ofNicole Kidman ’s best performances , which acquire her the Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role that year .
" There is a brilliance to the ocular language that Ross found . Through the managing of perspective , we can see the historic vastness of something so sorely individual without fall behind our horse sense of either scope . “- Alex Harrison -ScreenRant ’s reassessment ofNickel Boys
It ’s a testament to Whitehead ’s searing portrayal of Black American history through Elwood ’s eyes that his story has now made it to the Oscars . But it ’s also reflective of the over-the-top work done by the cast and crew of the movieNickel BoysthatRaMell Ross was able to turn Whitehead ’s intimate first - person POVnarrative into a brilliantly imaginative and profoundly moving cinematic experience .
8 Other Best Picture Nominees Were Adapted From Winners Of The Pulitzer Prize For Fiction
Only 2 Of Those Nominees Won The Oscar
Overall , Nickel Boys becomes theninth Pulitzer Prize - winning novel to be adapted into a Best Picturenominee at the Academy Awards . In addition toThe minute , the other seven works to have attain this feat are : Alice Adams , Gone with the Wind , The Grapes of Wrath , The Magnificent Ambersons , All the King ’s Men , To Kill a Mockingbird , andThe Color Purple . Out of this leaning , onlyGone with the Windand thehighly - ratedAll the King ’s Menactually won the Oscar for Best Picture .
Every Pulitzer Prize - Winning Best Picture campaigner
gain ground The Oscar For Best Picture
Alice Adams(1935 )
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go with the Wind(1939 )
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The grapevine of Wrath(1940 )
The Magnificent Ambersons(1942 )
All the King ’s Men ( 1949 )
To Kill a Mockingbird(1962 )
The Color Purple(1985 )
The Hours(2002 )
Nickel Boys(2024 )
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It ’s extremely tall thatNickel Boyswill become the first Pulitzer Prize - winning story for 75 old age to win Best Picture at this year ’s Oscars , but the movie has done well just to be included in the conversation . Whitehead , meanwhile , already has a Golden Globe , an Emmy , a BAFTA and a Peabody Award attached to his name , thanks to Barry Jenkins ’ adaption of his first Pulitzer Prize winnerThe Underground Railroad . He ’s also published two more novel sinceThe Nickel Boys – The Harlem ShuffleandCrook Manifesto – which have yet to be brought to the projection screen .
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Cast
Set in Jim Crow - era Florida , two Black stripling , Elwood Curtis and Turner , endure the bestial circumstance of Nickel Academy , a training school for boys . While Turner teaches survival through cynicism , Elwood clings to his belief in justice , despite the horrors around them . Their friendship offers a glimmer of hope amidst a backcloth of systemic racial discrimination and violence .
