‘Armageddon Time’ Director James Gray Reveals Real-Life Tragic Circumstances Of A Key Character In His Autobiographical Film – Telluride Q&A

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Director James Gray has revealed to Deadline that Johnny, a pivotal character portrayed by Jaylin Webb (The Wonder Years) in Gray’s autobiographical film Armageddon Time, was killed during a drug deal in the mid-1980s, some six years after we last see him in the movie.”I loved that kid!” Gray said repeatedly in an interview. “Here’s the thing: I never had a ton of friends.

I loved him.”Gray explained that Johnny, who was Black, was his closest friend at public school in Queens, New York. He is a major presence in the picture that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Armageddon Time will receive its North American gala at the Telluride Film Festival today.Telluride Film Festival Set With World Premieres Of Sam Mendes’ ‘Empire Of Light’, Sarah Polley’s ‘Women Talking’, Cate Blanchett Tribute And MoreGray’s film is set in Queens and explores a two- to three-month window where Gray, given the fictional name Paul Graff, is 12 years old and attending public school, where he and Johnny bond after being repeatedly picked on by a mean-minded teacher, though both suffer, in varying degrees, from ADHD.

Later, Graff’s parents sent him to Kew-Forest, a private school that then a haven for bigots, where students regularly used the N-word, and Fred Trump, father of former President Donald Trump, was on the school’s board of trustees.