'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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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!