Moonlight (Film) Barry Jenkins

Development

In 2003, Tarell Alvin McCraney wrote the semi-autobiographical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue to cope with his mother's death from AIDS. The theater piece was shelved for about a decade before it served as the basis for Moonlight.[15]

After the release of his debut feature film Medicine for Melancholy in 2008, Barry Jenkins wrote various screenplays, none of which entered production.[16] In January 2013, producer Adele Romanski urged Jenkins to make a second film.[17] The two brainstormed a few times a month through video-chat, with the goal of producing a low-budget "cinematic and personal" film.[16] Jenkins was introduced to McCraney's play through the Borscht arts collective in Miami.[18] After discussions with McCraney, Jenkins wrote the first draft of the film in a month-long visit to Brussels.[16][18]

Although the original play contained three parts, they ran simultaneously so that the audience would experience a day in the life of Little, Chiron and Black concurrently.[19] In fact, it is not made clear that the characters are the same person until halfway through the play.[20] Jenkins instead chose to split the three parts of the original piece into distinct chapters and to focus on Chiron's story from the perspective of an ally.[18][21]

The result was a screenplay that reflected the similar upbringings of Jenkins and McCraney. The character Juan was based on the father of McCraney's half-brother, who was also a childhood "defender" of McCraney, as Juan was for Chiron.[22] Likewise, Paula was a depiction of Jenkins' and McCraney's mothers, who both were drug addicts. McCraney and Jenkins also both grew up in Miami's Liberty Square, a primary location of the film.[17]

Jenkins looked for financing for the film during 2013, finding success after showing the script to the executives of Plan B Entertainment at the year's Telluride Film Festival. Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner of Plan B Entertainment became producers of the film,[16] while A24 undertook to finance it and handle worldwide distribution, which marked the company's first production.[23]

Casting

Different actors portrayed Chiron and Kevin in each chapter of the film. Ashton Sanders was cast in the role of teen Chiron.[24] Alex Hibbert and Jaden Piner were cast for the roles of child Chiron and child Kevin, respectively, in an open casting call in Miami.[25][26] Trevante Rhodes originally auditioned for the role of Kevin, before he was cast as adult Chiron.[27]

André Holland had previously acted in McCraney's plays, and had read In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue a decade before the release of the film.[28] Holland was attracted to the role of adult Kevin when later reading the script of the film, stating, "[The script] was the best thing I've ever read".[29]

Naomie Harris was initially reluctant to portray Paula, stating that she did not want to play a stereotypical depiction of a black woman.[30] When addressing her concerns, Jenkins emphasized the character's representation of both his and McCraney's mothers.[28] Harris later commented that although she had previously vowed not to portray a crack addict, the film's script and director's tolerance appealed to her.[17] In preparation for her role, Harris watched interviews of those with addiction to crack cocaine, and met with addicted women. She related her experiences of bullying to the addicts' attempts of escaping trauma.[30][31]

Romanski proposed Juan be played by Mahershala Ali, who had a role in one of her previously produced films, Kicks. Jenkins was hesitant when casting Ali due to his role as Remy Danton in House of Cards; however, he was convinced after witnessing Ali's acting range and understanding of his character.[32] Ali considered the role an important opportunity to portray an African-American male mentor,[33] and drew on his experiences of "[growing] up with a Juan".[32] Janelle Monáe was sent the script and immediately connected to her role as Teresa, commenting that she too had family members with similar struggles relating to drugs and sexual identity.[16]

Filming

Filming began on October 14, 2015, in Miami, Florida.[25][34] Despite Florida not having tax incentives for film productions, Moonlight was able to shoot in Florida at the insistence of the film's creative team and with support from its financiers. Had the production relocated to a different state with legislative incentives, the film's budget may have provided more resources by as much as up to 30%. The decision to film in Florida was made to maintain authenticity as a Florida based story.[35]

After scouting for locations in Miami with Romanski,[21] Jenkins made an effort to film in locations where he previously lived. Liberty Square, a housing project located in the neighborhood of Liberty City, was chosen as one of the primary locations as both McCraney and Jenkins grew up in the area.[36][37] The film was shot undisturbed since Jenkins had relatives living in the area,[21] though the cast and crew had police escorts.[31] Naomie Harris later reflected:

It was the first time someone had come to their community and wanted to represent it onscreen, and since Barry Jenkins had grown up in that area, there was this sense of pride and this desire to support him. You felt this love from the community that I've never felt in any other location, anywhere in the world, and it was so strange that it happened in a place where people were expecting the complete opposite.[31]

During filming, Jenkins made sure that the three actors for Chiron did not meet each other until after filming to avoid any imitations of one another.[38] Consequently, Rhodes, Sanders, and Hibbert filmed in separate two-week periods.[37] Mahershala Ali frequently flew to Miami on consecutive weekends to film during the production of other projects.[39][40][41] Naomie Harris shot all of her scenes in three days without rehearsals,[30][31][41] while André Holland filmed the totality of his scenes in five.[41] The film was shot in a period of twenty-five days.[15]

Jenkins worked with cinematographer and longtime friend James Laxton, who previously shot Medicine for Melancholy.[42] The two chose to avoid the "documentary look" and thus shot the film using widescreen CinemaScope on an Arri Alexa digital camera, which better rendered skin tone.[39][42] With colorist Alex Bickel, they further achieved this by creating a color grade that increased the contrast and saturation while preserving the detail and color. As a result, the three chapters of the film were designed to imitate different film stocks. The first chapter emulated the Fuji film stock to intensify the cast's skin tones. The second chapter imitated the Agfa film stock, which added cyan to the images, while the third chapter used a modified Kodak film stock.[43]

Editing

Post production began in November 2015 and was completed in April 2016.[44] The film was edited in Los Angeles[39] by Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders, former university schoolmates of Jenkins.[42] Sanders was responsible for editing the first and second chapters.[45] McMillon was responsible for the third act which included the "diner scene", a favorite of the cinematographer Laxton.[46][47]

McMillion and Sanders worked in the same room during editing sessions, and were able to exchange notes and provide feedback to one another throughout post production. Because the film did not need to be ready for any film festival or premiere deadlines, they were able to take ample time in post production. Jenkins was usually present during editing sessions. In McMillion's words, "At certain points Barry and Nat would be working on a section of the film and then say 'Hey Joi turn around and look at this" and then vice versa; when Barry was working with me he'd say, 'Hey Nat, how do you feel about this?'".[44]

Sanders and McMillion made several changes from the script, the most notable being the scene in the third act where Chiron visits his mother. This was meant to be one of the first scenes in the third act, but the editors convinced Jenkins to move it later in the story.[48]

McMillion became the first African-American woman to be nominated for an editing Oscar for her work on the film.[49] She remains the only African American woman to be nominated in the category.

Music

The score of Moonlight was composed by Nicholas Britell, who applied the chopped and screwed technique from hip hop remixes to orchestral music, producing a "fluid, bass-heavy score". The soundtrack, released on October 21, 2016, consists of eighteen original cues by Britell along with others by Goodie Mob, Boris Gardiner, and Barbara Lewis.[50] A chopped and screwed version was released by OG Ron C and DJ Candlestick of The Chopstars.[51]