'Snowfall' Star Amin Joseph Talks Directing His First Episode

‘Snowfall’ Exclusive: Amin Joseph Opens Up About His Directorial Debut And Says THIS Is Where The Blame Lies With Uncle Jerome

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20th Century Fox Screenings, Inside, Los Angeles, USA - 24 May 2018

Source: Variety / Getty

Amin Joseph Says John Singleton Was The First To Know He Wanted To Direct On ‘Snowfall’

We’d be remiss not to ask Amin Joseph about the influence of Snowfall creator John Singleton, who passed away following a stroke in April 2019, just months before the July premiere of the third season of the show.

“That was equally as intentional as having this first opportunity to direct,” Joseph said of how the Snowfall creator was foremost on his mind when directing the episode. “John may have been the first person I told that I want to direct an episode of Snowfall. John was someone that I would pass back and forth scripts that I’ve now produced and starred in since his passing, so he was someone that was a confidant. He was someone that I could definitely talk to and be inspired by. Just his overall — you know John was very fun, he was consumed with filmmaking. There was an enthusiasm there and I carry a lot of that passion. I definitely tapped into that.”

Snowfall BTS photos from Amin Joseph's Directorial Debut

Source: Ray Micksaw / FX

“I did things that he didn’t necessarily do on set, but it would feel very similar to that, I know, for my cast and crew,” Amin continued. “You know, I would make sure that we just had a good time. As long as we’re doing really good work and we’re making our days, I also want to make sure that people are able to be empowered. That’s something that John did, empowered with a voice that I’m not coming in here as a tyrant, It’s not exactly how I see it, but it’s a collaboration. To get that out of people you need people in good spirits, you need people not clocking in and clocking out, because there’s so much untapped potential. There’s so many dreams deferred on a set. A lot of times people are more than feeling their current space and if you can tap into that you can get a new perspective that ultimately can affect and change and help the art. I learned so much from John and yeah he’s all throughout this.”

Snowfall Season 1 Episodic images

Source: Ray Mickshaw / FX

We’ve been fortunate enough to chat with nearly all of the Snowfall regulars this season including Isaiah John, Gail Bean and Angela Lewis. One question we’ve asked them all has been about which character bears the most blame. We made sure to let Amin know how much the question amused his frequent scene partner, Angela Lewis and he could only laugh.

“That’s another thing that that we’ll miss most from Snowfall and it was just organic from the moment we got on set — perhaps John Singleton made that type of atmosphere — but us as characters, we are doggedly loyal to our characters. We speak only from our characters’ point of view. Each character, if they tell you from their side, their point of view, it always makes sense.”

Snowfall Season 1 Episodic images

Source: Michael Yarish / FX

Amin Joseph Blames Uncle Jerome For ‘Snowfall’ Tragedies

It turns out though that Joseph is more than willing for Jerome to take some degree of accountability for his role in the Saint family’s misfortune.

“As far as blame, what I hope an audience gets from my character is that ultimately I am to blame. Ultimately, I knew the cost of that first kilo that came into the house. I tried my best to turn my nephew away from doing it. I knew there was a cost to pay, and I knew that the cost to pay would probably be the destruction of myself and the people that I care about and that’s why I feel like Jerome was a “Walking Dead” character. Especially after he tried to change his life and realized that he was dealing with PTSD, that he tried to change his life, he tried to marry a woman that he loved, and he tried to say that he was going to get back into the community, this is stuff in season 5. When he’s trying to go on his honeymoon, his nephew’s robbing him of his money, leaving bodies outside of his warehouse and pulling a gun on his wife, I think that just spiraled him into a place of no return. I don’t think many of the actions of Uncle Jerome in Season Six are of a sane man. He’s spiraling. He’s trying to grasp any type of control and power and he realized that his destiny is fatalistic. So I would say that Jerome blames himself. Now as far as tracking it as a character and all that type of stuff it’s real simple to see that my nephew was a very conniving, manipulative man and that my wife has past traumas that she covers with a thirst for power.”

We definitely weren’t expecting that! Do you think Uncle Jerome should have pumped the brakes on Franklin’s bad choices from the beginning? We wouldn’t have this great show without such errors in judgment though, riiight?!

We’re almost at the end of the season — do you guys have theories about what will happen next?

Tune in to Snowfall Wednesdays at 10pm EST on FX. You can also catch up on the show on HULU!

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