In the forthcoming film adaptation of The Nickel Boys, Elwood Curtis’s college dreams are shattered alongside a two-lane Florida highway. After a small, innocent mistake leads to his wrongful arrest, Elwood is sentenced to Nickel Academy, a vicious reform school in the Jim Crow South. At Nickel, he meets Turner, a fellow Black teen who has been hardened by the institution’s relentless brutality.
As the two form a cautious alliance, Turner offers Elwood pragmatic survival tips, while Elwood clings to the optimism he’s drawn from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches. Although the Civil Rights Movement is sweeping the country, life at Nickel feels far removed from any promise of justice. Elwood, however, refuses to surrender his belief in humanity, despite the academy’s harsh conditions. His resolve begins to stir something new in Turner, forcing both boys to grapple with their future and the systemic oppression they face.
With the film set to bring Colson Whitehead’s powerful novel to life, audiences will witness a harrowing tale of survival, friendship, and the search for dignity in an unforgiving world.
