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Moonlight barry jenkins full#

“The romanticism comes back,” Jenkins says, “and we have André Holland smoking a cigarette right into the lens, right into the audience’s heart.”Īt this point, as the two of us eat lunch on the rooftop of the Ace Hotel in Downtown LA, a waiter comes over to gush about Moonlight, and to thank Jenkins for making it. DP James Laxton’s camera catches the look they share from each perspective, straight down the lens. The now-grown-up Chiron (Trevante Rhodes) shares a look with the object of his earlier desires, Kevin (André Holland), with whom he has just reunited. Jenkins considers his position for a moment, and then describes a scene in that final act of his unusual three-part coming-of-age story, that runs completely contrary to what he has just said. But those things are taken away from him.” Though Barry Jenkins lost to Damien Chazelle’s work on La La Land for Best Director, he took home a golden statuette for best-adapted screenplay-and 'Moonlight' itself ended up winning Best Picture.Naomie Harris On Bridging The Chasm With Paula In 'Moonlight' And Her 'Jungle Book' Dream Jobīut, I ask, isn’t that elaboration in itself evidence of Chiron’s romanticism? “Undoubtedly, yes. So if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone and we’ve got to tell these damn stories.” Because I felt this at the height of my public awareness, whatever - literally said, ‘This dude is probably going to be nominated for Best Director.’ And then he called me that shit right before. So if it could happen to me with someone who’s driving me, a person in power, what the hell do you think happens to some dude working a shift at the factory? Or some dude walking to the bar? So when we got to that scene I was like, This is fucking it. “And this is when I’m wearing a $5,000 suit. I’m like, ‘What’s up?’ He goes, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t get in the car with that dude.’ I’m like, ‘Why?’ He goes, ‘Oh, because when I was out here before, he looked all agitated, and I said to him, ‘What’s wrong?’ He goes, ‘Oh, you know, nothing, I’m just sitting around here waiting around to pick up this N-.’ And then he smiled and said, ‘Oh, and he’s probably going to get nominated for Best Director.’ Subtext: But he’s still just a N. I come out and the valet person is just like, shocked. “So I’m at this party and I was trying to get to my homeboy Justin Simien’s after-party for his show ‘Dear White People.’ My driver, he had a hard time getting in and out of the valet, because if you pull up and your person’s not there, you’ve got to drive out and circle around. So cars come in and they go out, they come in, they go out. The Sunset Tower Hotel is this hotel that it’s very hard to get in and out of. It’s all these cars, everybody’s in tuxedos, and there’s an after-party at the Sunset Tower Hotel. The woman who cut Lawrence of Arabia, the editor, she received a lifetime achievement award there.

It’s the event you hear about the least, where they honor all of these folks. It was the Governor Awards for the Academy. “During awards season for ‘Moonlight,’ I was at some big party.

Moonlight barry jenkins full#

'I felt very deeply that this film, even though it was set in 1973–74, that it was relevant to today.'Īs though to punctuate the truth of the statement, Jenkins shared his own, never-before-told sordid experience, transcribed in full by Vulture : 'That really solidified what we were doing,' said Jenkins, according to Vultur e. Jenkins alluded to a scene in which protagonist Daniel Carty, played by Brian Tyree Henry, is released from prison for a crime he didn’t commit, afterwards explaining to an old friend how the facility was one where white men could do whatever they wanted to the inmates. Towards the end of the segment, a fan asked whether there was a moment during production when everything clicked on the film. The revelation occurred during the Q&A session following the world premiere of Jenkins’ new film, 'If Beale Street Could Talk ,' based on the 1974 James Baldwin novel of the same name.

Moonlight barry jenkins driver#

Jenkins, speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, recounted how he was called the N-word by his own valet driver following the Academy’s Governor Awards.