Barry Jenkins Brings "Railroad" to Amazon
Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 8:00AM 
Chris here. Now that the dust has settled from the Oscar telecast snafu, we can just linger in the joy of a black queer microbudgeted film like Moonlight having won Best Picture. And after the film's emotionally immersive success I think it's safe to say that of all of last year's lauded filmmakers, the one that we're most clammoring to see the next project is Barry Jenkins.
Well get ready for him to transfer Moonlight's episodic structure into some actual episodes: the Oscar-winner will be writing and directing an adaptation of Colson Whitehead's "The Underground Railroad" for Amazon as a limited series. The novel follows Cora and Caesar, two slaves who find a literal subterranean train system on her journey to freedom in 1800s America. Already a National Book Award winner, the gorgeous prose is a perfect fit for Jenkins's attentive and comprehensive touch (I started the book this past weekend myself).
Considering Oprah selected it for her intermitent book club, one wonders if she'll also be lending her cache to at least the production team (the Moonlight producing team is also on board). For casting, while you can imagine actors lining up to work with Jenkins, but if there is one thing to hope carries over from Moonlight it's the sense of discovery he brings to a breakthrough ensemble. Have you read the novel yet?
Reader Comments (16)
Jenkins wants an Emmy to go with his Oscar. This keeps him working and building bonds with new actors for his next feature film.
I mean, I was hoping his next project would be another feature but this sounds pretty good.
The frustration of the newly minted black Oscar winner having to follow up with a TV project or no project at all. While the industry is in no mad dash to scrabble possible material for you. Everything is either disposable cash-in garbage or something wonderful but exclusively white. Fuckers.
As much as I love film, I'm also delighted with the revival of the miniseries (or limited series, whatever) especially as done by great actors and directors. More things like "Big Little Lies" and this!
Also, the idea that TV is a step down from film has long been dismissed. Filmmakers like Barry Jenkins just want to do great work and don't care about whether it's TV or film. If anything, more interesting work is now done on TV, with its multitude of avenues from broadcast to streaming, than it is on film. It will also be likely seen by more people.
"more interesting work is now done on TV"
All the more reason why his voice and vision is more necessary in cinemas. TV is great, I'm sure this project will be great, but I think our film culture needs more films as singular and important as "Moonlight" to balance all the superheroes and generic biopics that get greenlit every day and released in theaters every week.
DJ-I don't disagree that voices such as Jenkins's is needed in film, but that is nowadays easier said than done. Film studios aren't stepping up to the plate to fund interesting projects the way HBO, Amazon, Netflix and others are doing on the TV side. A project like this would have to be independently funded and doing so is an uphill climb. Given the choice between secure financial backing and creative freedom offered by Amazon and the struggle of independently financing a film on his own, it's a no-brainer decision for Jenkins.
Film culture is dead. And since Hollywood will die in its boots being a patriarchal white supremacist institution I'm losing no sleep behind it. @DJDeeJay
Raul - Oh, believe me, I'm well aware. I'm not saying I'm surprised, I'm not saying another film would be easy, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with TV. I just have these two parallel thoughts in my head:
"Happy he's getting work, this project sounds interesting"
and
"I wish he was doing another movie"
But I also wonder what, if any, features he was offered. There's been so much attention on how directors of small indie movies get offered blockbusters, and even DuVernay went from Middle of Nowhere to Selma to A Wrinkle in Time, that I wonder if Jenkins was offered anything big and he decided to turn it down for whatever (totally legit) reason.
@3rtful - do you really believe film culture is dead or are you being hyperbolic?
Chris, thanks for this--now I have to read this book.
I wonder how this one will fare as compared to the current series "Undergound". I have not seen it (it does not air in Argentina, at least not for now).
I've always been a fan of the Underground Railway since I was 9 years old and saw an episode of the anthology series The Great Adventure. The episode was called Go Down, Moses (1963), and it starred Ruby Dee as Harriet Tubman. Others in the cast were Ossie Davis, Brock Peters and Ethel Waters. You can catch it on YouTube.
a) It's one of the best books of this decade.
b) II wish Jenkins' would get to make movies too, but I'll take what I can get.
Loved this book. But I think it might be in the "too good to film" category. So much of the book's brilliance is in the lyricism and sometimes harshness of the prose. The plot alone will seem too standard.
do you really believe film culture is dead or are you being hyperbolic?
The whole thing feels meaningless. We all have our early childhood fascinations and obsessions with the movies. And with maturity our palette expands. But now we can just consume content devoid of binary distinctions. TV shows are episodic R rated movies. And movie stars muscle out TV stars and TV stars can moonlight in the movies and win Oscars. Less people are invested in owning home video content. Physical media dying and the theatrical experience being too expensive to watch any old random new release. I have to really care prior to making a visit to the multiplex or the art house to see whatever.
@3rtful - Interesting. I'm not sure I feel quite as strongly about these things but I definitely see your point.