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“Love is something intuitive” — Christos Nikou talks Fingernails

This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn't exist.

Because of the launch of dating apps such as Tinder, Hinge and Bumble, the way we look for love has changed immensely. Going out to meet people has been swapped by swiping left or right. Whether or not we like to admit it, we place our love life in the hands of an algorithm. This can have extraordinary but also disastrous consequences. That's being proved in , the latest movie by director Christos Nikou.

In the film, Anna (Jessie Buckley) and Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) have found each other, and their true love is demonstrated through a new technology. But just like in any relationship, doubts and insecurity exist in theirs. FILMHOUNDS spoke to Nikou (Apples) and had a chat about casting for Fingernails, the emotional score and the impact of the movie on the audience.

Hi, Christos, congratulations on Fingernails. You directed the movie and co-wrote it with Sam Steiner (Comeback Kid) and Stavros Raptis (Left Right). How did you come up with the story?

It was the time that I was trying to understand what love is, why love is so difficult to obtain, and why we cannot fall in love like people did in the past. With the extensive use of dating apps and how people are trying to swap right or left with their fingers and nails to find the perfect match, we are trusting our love life to an algorithm. That fascinates me, but it also scares me a bit. We're letting an algorithm decide our lives and suggest things such as love. Love is something much more intuitive, and we need to follow our instincts and not the apps.

Congratulations on the cast as well because everyone's doing an amazing job. How did the casting process go?

I always wanted to work with Jessie and Riz [Ahmed, who plays Amir] because they're fantastic actors. They're also amazing human beings. Jessie always surprises me with what she's doing, and Riz is a chameleon. He can adapt from something comedic in Four Lions, for example, to something dramatic in Sound of Metal very quickly. Both actors have something very warm, and I wanted to see that chemistry on screen. Also, we had never seen them in something romantic before, so I hoped they would have this great chemistry. And then Jeremy came on board as Ryan. We were thinking about how we could find somebody to create and complete this love triangle. Jeremy was perfect for that.

Love and outstanding acting performances aren't the only key parts of this movie. Music also plays a significant role in Fingernails. The movie starts with Jessie's character singing in her car while driving, and we also see how Riz's character gets emotional when hearing certain songs. How did you select the songs and score for this movie?

I chose the songs I love. They were my choice because I love these songs. My favourite one is Frankie Valli's The Night. In this movie, we used the song during a dancing scene with Riz. I also love Only You by Yazoo, which we play throughout the film and at the end. I love these songs, and I just thought that they would work perfectly for the movie.

Cinematographer Marcell Rév and director Christos Nikou in Fingernails courtesy of Apple Inc.

When being on set, what was the scene that struck you the most cause there are many emotional scenes in Fingernails?

It was precisely the same scene that I just mentioned, the scene where Riz was dancing. Before filming that scene, we discussed with Riz how he would do it, but we have yet to do any rehearsal. We started playing the song, and I remembered Jessie would see him dancing. We were shooting first Riz and his dance, and Jessie was already crying. She was feeling so emotional, and everybody on set was like, “Wow, that's so magical”.

In this movie, their patients/subjects are asked what they liked the most about their partner and how they would describe them. Does hearing those questions also make you think about the great personality traits of your friends, family, etc and your relationships as well?

Oh yes, for sure. In this movie, we are trying to talk about human relationships, how all these relationships are and the way that we are projecting everything on our relationships. It's also about what we seek in our lives because we need to find something real. That's also with our friends and everybody in our lives.

How does it feel for you to see people react?

It's been great. The film's reception from the audience is so great to see. During the premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, there was a young girl who came to me after the screening, and she told me that it was her favourite movie of the year. She asked me if I could give her love advice. She was very young, in her early 20s. I said, “No, I can't”. She was trying to explain to me that all her friends are using dating apps, and she doesn't want to, and she doesn't know exactly why. It was such a beautiful moment to feel that somebody from the audience connected so much with the movie. It's lovely to see how the audience reacts.

Apart from this film, do you already have other films you're working on that you can mention?

I want to make a movie that follows a group of extras, background actors playing in famous movies from the 80s.

Fingernails will be available to stream on Apple TV+ on November 3rd. Read our review here.