'Snowfall' Star Amin Joseph Talks Directing His First Episode

You may know Amin Joseph as “Uncle Jerome” on Snowfall but as of last week’s episode, entitled “Ballad of the Bear,” Joseph officially stepped into his newest role on the show as a director.

Source: Ray Micksaw / FX

‘Snowfall’ Actor Amin Joseph Turned Director For Season 6 Episode 8

BOSSIP Sr. Content Director Janeé Bolden caught up with the actor following his directorial debut to discuss favorite scenes, working with John Singleton and the ever-evolving debate over which Snowfall character bears the most responsibility for the Saint family’s downfall. [*WARNING* There are a few spoilers ahead so if you’re not caught up on Season 6, you should bookmark this story and come back after you’ve seen episodes 7 and 8.]

Joseph stepped in to direct the eighth episode of the series’ sixth and final season — while he was still in the midst of shooting the seventh as an actor. Despite the heavy lifting required to both act and direct at the same time, Amin says that appearing on the show for so long helped ready him to direct.

“The preparation started with me being an actor on the show,” Joseph told BOSSIP. “I had the privilege of working with the cast and crew for over six years, seven years with the pandemic included. So there was just a lot of stuff that was just almost organic to me, just a lot of subtext. I know my cast very well. There are a lot of dreams deferred within each character and each actor. I had just a real fertile ground to be able to pick things from and get inspiration from. Then it came down to the actual episode you know. That actual episode is like, I’m filming still, I’m filming the episode before as I’m prepping. Snowfall is a tough shoot to get through so it just helped that I was really prepped, I was really prepared, and that I could get that script as early as possible and then start creating from there.”

Source: Mark Davis / FX

Skully And Leon Make Peace At Jerome’s Repast During Season 6 Episode 8 Of ‘Snowfall’

Episode 8 actually picks up where Episode 7 left off, at the repast for Uncle Jerome. Franklin told Gustavo “El Oso” Zapata to meet him at his mother’s home to strategize. The opening scene is a thing of cinematic beauty to behold, definitely one of those moments that will live on in the memories of true fans of Snowfall. We asked Joseph about his intent when plotting the opening shots.

“Really what I wanted to do in that scene was show a contrast to the neighborhood that we first met in season one right?” Joseph told BOSSIP. “It was jovial and kids were outside you know, getting ice cream still, it just was a different time and now bars are on the window. If you notice in that scene there’s a young man on a bicycle that could sort of feel like Kevin Hamilton. There are drug deals going on all while we’re going and we’re focusing on Oso stalking into the repast, but people are talking about Jammin’ Jerome, and there are candlelight vigils, so I just wanted to show that the neighborhood has changed also. There is Oso, someone that usually we never see in the South Central side of this world, especially going into Cissy’s house. It’s this stranger that no one is really aware of. He’s walking in almost like a ghost because people are so preoccupied with Jerome and paying respect to him. That was what I was trying to convey there; that change, this mystery man coming in, and us getting a glimpse of different conversations that a lot of our co -tars and guest stars were saying.”

As Joseph mentioned, the scene really plays out through Oso’s eyes, but there is a key moment where Skully and Leon make peach with one another that’s incredible to watch, particularly knowing how both characters were profoundly affected by all the blood shed (but most notably Skully’s girlfriend Khadijah and daughter Tiana). It turns out that particular part of the episode was originally planned to be a more in-depth scene.

“To be quite honest, the way it played in the script it was much more of a meal,” Amin Joseph explained. “It was intentional for me to make it part of the world. I wasn’t going to land on it and bereave it. This is a repast, but I wasn’t going to take the time to… Because in life we don’t — people get over it. You’re putting someone in the ground and you’re also thinking about paying your rent on your mobile app. Life goes on and that’s what to me that repast scene was about.”

“When Franklin says, ‘Oso we all have been holding things for a long time,’ it’s actually Franklin having the wherewithal coming out of the shadows, us landing on him, that’s where Oso was taking us,” Joseph continued. “He understands all the position that he’s put everyone in. That’s why he has the recollection of Mel. Skully and Leon it’s the most important thing for me in that scene, but I had to be intentional about catching it but letting the audience sort of go ‘Wow, in all of this, that’s happening too.’ There are moments that we have that meant the world to Leon. That crestfallen moment that is exorcising the demons and for Skully it has to be the same thing. And how much has Skully’s character evolved since when we first met him? Those things were really intentional. I was so happy that it was almost like a standalone scene in the writing of it, but to me it made much more sense for it to be through the choreography of Gustavo showing us, the audience, the backyard, and what ultimately he’s here to do because he has his own mission.”

Continue for more from our interview with Amin Joseph.