The actors in this Oscar-nominated film weren’t told how it was going to end

“Io Capitano” Director Matteo Garrone says he wanted the lead actors to learn their fates along with the characters they portrayed.

Matteo Garrone knew how his movie would end. But the Italian director waited until the last moments of filming to reveal the ending to the actors playing the lead roles. “Io Capitano” tells the “Odyssey”-like story of migrant teens making a dangerous journey from Africa to Europe. It won best director at the Venice International Film Festival last year, and it’s among five films vying for best international feature film at this year’s Academy Awards. It also recently opened in US theaters, earning rave reviews from critics and a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie stars Senegalese actors Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall, playing the roles of cousins Seydou and Moussa, who share the actors’ first names but have very different backstories. “From the outset, they didn’t know whether their characters would succeed in their journey or not,” Garrone has said. For Sarr, whose performance garnered him the best young actor award at the Venice festival, the approach was particularly challenging.