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What do The Fox and the Hound, Fantasia, and The Manchurian Candidate all have in common? They're all movies the cast and crew of Mufasa: The Lion King would place next to the Disney prequel's physical release on their shelves. Barry Jenkins's box-office-busting photorealistic animated musical drama is coming to store shelves on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on April 1, and to celebrate, Collider can share an exclusive video with the stars involved talking through what films deserve to sit with their creation. Whether for sentimental reasons, a Disney connection, or because they prefer to be neat and alphabetized, each person featured has a different answer for how they're displaying the new release with the movies they own.

The video opens with one of the film's two stars, Kelvin Harrison Jr., who plays Taka/Scar. Considering Mufasa is all about brothers, he thinks The Fox and the Hound...

The tricky thing about “Mufasa: The Lion King” was that Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) had never done a VFX-driven franchise film before. But production VFX supervisor Adam Valdez and his Mpc team (who are Oscar-shortlisted) assured the indie director they were dedicated to making a Barry Jenkins film.

That is, to explore the inner lives of teenage Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) and Taka/Scar (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) in the origin story with a poetic visual style. This was a comfort to Jenkins and his team: cinematographer James Laxton, production designer Mark Friedberg, and editor Joi McMillon.

“These films that we’re making with Disney are all about taking an existing world, but letting the director tell a story in that world with their voice,” Valdez told IndieWire. “Barry and his team have made so many films together, and they have this intimate style that is connected to characters.”

This kicked off with...

How did Barry Jenkins, the Oscar-winning director of “Moonlight,” find himself making “Mufasa: The Lion King” with the same virtual production tools that Jon Favreau used on “The Lion King” remake? Simple: He instantly fell in love with Jeff Nathanson’s prequel script and wanted to play in the same high-tech sandbox as Favreau and James Cameron.

“When I first read the script, I was surprised to find so many things about ‘The Lion King’ universe that excited me,” Jenkins told IndieWire. “This very biblical, ancestral story about the origin of Mufasa and the Pride Lands, the idea of transcending tribalism and how we can lead ourselves from that and replace it with community.

“I just thought all those things were just so wonderful, and the canvas was so large that I had to make the film,” he added. “And because Favreau’s film was done this way, it made...

Mufasa: The Lion King, director Barry Jenkins’ photorealistic animated Disney prequel, opens in theaters on Dec. 20, and critics’ reviews are now rolling in. Critics say the film is imperfect, as all films that primarily exist as corporate franchise I.P. extensions are, but Jenkins, the Academy Award-winning auteur behind Moonlight and The Underground Railroad, manages to make it his own — though critics are not unanimous in their interpretations of how much Jenkins is able to bring to the movie. However, they all agree that it’s better than Jon Favreau’s 2019 Lion King remake, from which Mufasa spins off.

In a 3 ½-star out of 4 review for RogerEbert.com, Matt Zoller Seitz — who wrote an excellent profile of Jenkins making Mufasa for Vulture — writes that “Mufasa never offers anything that can eclipse the shock of the new that accompanied the first photorealistic animated Disney remake in this vein, 2016’s The Jungle Book.

A24 has always had a knack for redefining modern cinema and taking risks other studios wouldn’t dare touch. Through this unique preservation of individuality, they’ve constructed a rigid name for themselves with thought-provoking, visually stunning, and emotionally cathartic films that constantly push boundaries and challenge expectations. From tales of identity to psychological breakdowns, some movies cement A24 as a powerhouse studio of indie filmmaking.

Whether the emotions conveyed are gut-wrenching, nightmare-inducing, or simply tears of joy, recurring trademarks in A24 movies have provided incredibly niche experiences for viewers over the years. From Lady Bird to Midsommar, there aren’t any boxes that are left unchecked within the company, allowing audiences to feel virtually every emotion through their extensive catalog. The scariest A24 horror villains as well as the most lovable meld together into one remarkable blur when considering their best movies.

Moonlight (2016)

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Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” begins with the voice of James Earl Jones, followed by a title card that reads, “In Remembrance.”

Jones, who died in September at 93 years old, originated the voice of King Mufasa in the 1994 Oscar-winning animated feature “The Lion King,” its direct-to-video sequels and the 2019 live-action remake. Jones did not return for the prequel, which opens in theaters on Dec. 20.

Barry Jenkins, who helmed “Mufasa,” tells Variety why he decided to open the movie with a tribute to the late actor. “When I think about what James Earl Jones means, not even just to me, but to global audiences — people know this — I grew up without a father figure, and you go in and you watch this art, you watch these films, sometimes these fathers in these movies become a stand-in for that,” he says. “They become these father figures.”

So, when Jones died, Jenkins explains,...

Disney revealed an extended look at the upcoming release “Mufasa: The Lion King” on Friday night at D23.

Before that, singers walked onto the stage and teased a snippet of the film’s opening song before director Barry Jenkins appeared. “Like all of you, ‘The Lion King’ made an indelible mark on me,” Jenkins said. “Hearing the music and feeling every emotion as the story unfolded, a father bestowing a legacy upon his son, a pride being built anew, and a young lion rising to his destiny. Telling his story is an absolute honor.”

Jenkins also announced that Lin-Manuel Miranda will pen the film’s original songs. Miranda received a standing ovation as he joined Jenkins to preview the song, “I Always Wanted a Brother.”

The “Lion King” prequel takes place before the events of the 2019 live-action photorealistic reimagining and is directed by Jenkins. “Mufasa” focuses on the early years...

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Disney’s “The Lion King” (currently in theaters for a limited run), which coincides with the release of Barry Jenkins’ prequel, “Mufasa: The Lion King” (December 20). The 2D blockbuster and pop culture phenomenon (directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff) was an early digital pioneer. This was vital in introducing a live-action aesthetic with dynamic camera movement and dramatic lighting to its “Circle of Life” adventure story, starring Simba and company, set in the African Pride Lands.

This propelled Jon Favreau’s photorealistic remake in 2019, driven by an innovative virtual production workflow and a Nat Geo-like doc aesthetic. Although it was marketed as “live action” and not submitted for animated Oscar consideration, this was clearly keyframe-animated by Mpc, which nonetheless earned a VFX Oscar nomination (production supervised by Rob Legato).

This, in turn, has led Jenkins to strive for greater emotional nuance and...

In one of Moonlight's most iconic shots, Mahershala Ali's Juan holds Alex Hibbert's Little on the surface of the ocean, his hands gently cradling the boy's head and legs. The water laps around the camera. The score swells. "That right there?" Juan says. "You in the middle of the world." He is teaching Little how to swim. This film will teach you how to feel, as director Barry Jenkins gently guides you through one of the most heartbreaking, moving and beautifully executed character studies in recent cinematic memory.

Moonlight first came into being as an unproduced play, titled 'In Moonlight, Black Boys Look Blue' and penned by Tarell Alvin McCraney back in 2003, after his mother passed away. A semi-autobiographical piece based on McCraney's experience growing up in Miami's Liberty City, it was shelved – until a few years later, when fellow Liberty City kid Jenkins read it and...

You have to admit, even the promise of it is fascinating: what does a photoreal-animated Lion King film look like when it comes from Barry Jenkins – the director of Moonlight, and If Beale Street Could Talk, and The Underground Railroad? We’re about to find out, because Jenkins is directing Mufasa: The Lion King, the follow-up to Jon Favreau’s 2019 The Lion King remake – ostensibly a prequel about the rise of Simba’s legendary dad, but also weaving in sequel threads following Simba and Nala’s burgeoning family. And it’s not that Jenkins is being parachuted in – he’s working with his regular cinematographer James Laxton, and editor Joi McMillon, bringing his impeccable craft to an entirely different type of filmmaking, with the biggest tools blockbusterdom can bring. Check out the trailer here:

There’s plenty to dig into here – particularly those big names in the cast list. While...

Walt Disney Pictures brought the Pride Lands to Sin City. The studio unveiled footage of “Mufasa: The Lion King” at their CinemaCon panel this Monday, showcasing Barry Jenkins’ prequel of the 2019 “Lion King” remake.

Jenkins accompanied the film to Las Vegas at CinemaCon, and he explained to the crowd, “what the director of ‘Moonlight’ is doing here to tell me about an 8-quadrant legacy film.” Well, he said making it was “one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.”

A photorealistic CGI film in the vein of the 2019 film, “Mufasa: The Lion King” will focus on the ascension of Mufasa (voiced in the prequel by “The Underground Railroad” star Aaron Pierre) to the ruler of the Pride Lands. Kelvin Harrison Jr. will also star as Scar, along with Seth Rogan, Billy Eichner, and John Kani all reprising their roles from the 2019 “Lion King” as Pumbaa, Timon, and Raifiki,...

Unlike most of the next generation of great director-cinematographer pairings, Ben Fordesman and Rose Glass didn’t have a collaborative history prior to their first feature “Saint Maud.” They didn’t go to school together or make short films — it was Fordesman’s agent who made the connection for “Saint Maud.”

And in interviewing both Glass and Fordesman for this story, it’s clear on the first project they were feeling each other out, figuring out how the other worked, and then at some point it just clicked.

Glass described the development of a visual style on “Saint Maud” that became the basis of their work on their second feature, “Love Lies Bleeding.” “I think that naturally we had a bit of a shorthand, I guess trying to constantly balance this being of [and] in the real world, but also kind of not,” said Glass, while she was a guest on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast.

A24 has a reputation as one of the coolest indie movie “brands” today.

Through dozens of films, they have established themselves as arbiters of extremely good taste, maintaining relationships with their favorite filmmakers while taking big swings on new talent. They have also shown themselves to be crack marketers of their own product (how many boutique film studios inspire young fans to sweat sweatshirts emblazoned with their logo?)

This brand awareness is quite powerful. Younger filmgoers know an A24 movie when they see them; and they go see movies because the studio is behind them. This knowingness, a contract between the studio and the audience, extends to A24’s horror output, which is even more easily identifiable. “It’s an A24 horror movie,” you’ll say. And whoever you’re talking to will know exactly what you mean. Maybe it’s a little folksy, maybe it’s a little techy,...

The history of cinema is full of unexpected movies sharing some sort of bizarre or inexplicable connections. Often, the last two movies you’d ever associate with one another turn out to be very close in some specific way. For instance, in 2016, cinematographer James Laxton lensed the masterpiece Moonlight and also the widely maligned Yoga Hosers. Who knew there was some connective tissue between Nazi bratwurst and that Barry Jenkins-directed classic? Meanwhile, those family-friendly Spy Kids movies introduced the titular star of the super violent Machete movies to the world. There's really no end in sight for the strange ways wildly different motion pictures are often united, whether through intentional creative decisions or accidental production details. So it is with The King's Speech, a 2010 Oscars darling that has a very close kinship with another unexpected motion picture.

In the manner characteristic of low-budget “issue” films, writer-director Barry Jenkins’s Medicine for Melancholy is a triptych of progressive themes—reluctant romance, race, and urban displacement—interwoven by the circuitous gab of an unremarkable but authentic two-person cast. Each of these three topics is given its own compartmentalized narrative thread, but unlike with other multi-layered works of metropolitan malaise (The Visitor immediately springs to mind), all three of the socio-humanist plotlines uniformly fail along with the leads’ addled relationship.

At dawn, African-American bedfellows Micah (Wyatt Cenac) and Jo (Tracey Heggins) retrace the inebriated, hormonal footsteps of an impromptu one-night stand with humiliating ignorance. Jo resists Micah’s sober advances but Micah continues hounding, suffering from the misconception that their accidental sex possessed a germ of meaning. Biographical details begin to emerge. Micah lives in San Francisco’s modest but colorful Tenderloin district, Jo in the affluent Marina with her presumably yuppy (and white) boyfriend.

Colorist Alex Bickel is no stranger to working on some of A24’s biggest films, including collaborating with cinematographer James Laxton and director Barry Jenkins to create the bold color and contrast of “Moonlight,” and aiding cinematographer Sam Levy and director Greta Gerwig in giving “Lady Bird” the feel of a xeroxed zine. So it shouldn’t be a surprise he was also the behind-the-scenes secret weapon that helped The Daniels and cinematographer Larkin Seiple (this is Bickel’s third film with the DoP) delineate the distinct worlds of the “Everything Everywhere All at Once” multiverse, which appears poised to bring the studio its second Best Picture Oscar.

Like most of the colorist’s successful endeavors, the “Eeaao” collaboration started before the film went into production. “When I first read the screenplay, it was clear that there was a massive opportunity for the grade to play a huge role in...

Cinematographer Ellen Kuras became the first woman to receive the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award at the ASC Awards in Hollywood on Sunday night.

Kuras, whose credits include “Summer of Sam,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Blow,” called attention to long working hours on set and advocated for on-set safety during her acceptance speech. “We leave set after having worked a long day or

night. During my lifetime, I’ve lost count how many times I struggled to get home after long hours on set. How I barely managed to get into my driveway. And I know that I am definitely not alone in this struggle,” she said.

Just last year, nearly 60,000 IATSE workers almost brought the industry to a halt demanding better hours and working conditions, saying that the surge in production over the past decade has led to long hours and dangerous situations on set. Said Kuras,...

Powerhouse “Dune” cinematographer Greig Fraser won the feature film prize Sunday night at the 36th annual ASC Awards (held at the organization’s clubhouse in Hollywood). This marks Fraser’s second ASC win after his Oscar-nominated “Lion.” He triumphed over Bruno Delbonnel (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”), Dan Laustsen (“Nightmare Alley”), Ari Wegner (“The Power of the Dog”), and Haris Zambarloukos (“Belfast”). All are Oscar nominees except Zambarloukos, who was beat out by Janusz Kamiński (“West Side Story”).

Fraser now has critical momentum going into next Sunday’s Oscars, bolstered by his recent BAFTA prize and praise for his dark and gritty “The Batman.” However, don’t be surprised if Wegner (winner of the Critics Choice Award) pulls off an upset over her fellow Australian and becomes the first woman to win the Oscar for cinematography. Her director, “Power of the Dog’s” Jane Campion, is expected to win the Oscar for Best Director.

The American Society of Cinematographers handed out its top prize in feature film visual storytelling to “Dune.” Last year’s winner, Erik Messerschmidt for “Mank,” presented the feature film prize to Greig Fraser.

The 36th Annual ASC Awards ceremony returned to a limited in-person component at the the ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood. Debbie Allen served as the night’s host.

Other winners included “Pig,” which won the spotlight award ,and James Laxton, who took home the motion picture, limited series, or pilot made for television award for “The Underground Railroad.”

Rachel Morrison, Stephen Hopkins and Jay Holben were among the cinematographers who presented the honoree awards. Ellen Kuras, ASC received the lifetime achievement award. Peter Levy, ASC, Acs was honored with the career achievement in television award, while John Lindley, ASC was presented with the president’s award and Dan Sasaki was bestowed with the Curtis Clark technical achievement award.

“Dune” has been named the best-shot film of 2021 by the American Society of Cinematographers, which held its annual awards show on Sunday evening in Los Angeles.

Cinematographer Greig Fraser won the award over a field that included fellow Oscar nominees “The Power of the Dog,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “Nightmare Alley,” as well as “Belfast.”

In the first 35 years of its existence, the ASC winner has gone on to take the Oscar for Best Cinematography less than half the time, although that percentage has improved recently. “Dune” is considered one of the front runners for this year’s cinematography Oscar, with Fraser seemingly in a close with Ari Wegner for “The Power of the Dog,” who could be the first woman ever to win in the category.

Other feature-film awards went to Jessica Beshir for “Faya Dayi” in the documentary category and Pat Scola for “Pig” in the spotlight category,...

Dune‘s Greig Fraser won the top film prize at the American Society of Cinematographers’ 36th annual ASC Awards, which were handed out tonight in Hollywood.

Denis Villeneuve’s epic based on the classic Frank Herbert novel was one of the two films coming into tonight with the most momentum, having won the cinematography prize at the BAFTA Film Awards last week. It beat out The Power of the Dog, which fetched the Critics Choice Award that same day.

Katelin Arizmendi, the second unit Dp on Dune, accepted the award for Fraser, who recently tested positive for Covid and was unable to attend the ceremony. Arizmendi read a speech from Fraser, who ASC win for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases was his second after 2017’s Lion.

The other nominees for the marquee film prize were Ari Wegner for The Power of the Dog, Bruno Delbonnel for The Tragedy of Macbeth,...

The American Society of Cinematographers announced their 2022 nominees this morning and it was good news for Sci-Fi fans. Over six categories projects such as “Dune,” “Foundation,” “Titans,” “Snowpiercer,” “Superman & Lois” and “The Nevers” earned nominations. Of course, it’s the film nods that will get the most attention.

Read More: “Belfast,” “Only Murders in the Building” and “Succession” lead 2022 SAG Awards nominations

Greig Fraser‘s work on “Dune” was nominated in the Feature Film category alongside Bruno Delbonnel for “Tragedy of Macbeth,” Dan Lausten for “Nightmare Alley,” Ari Wegner for “The Power of the Dog” and Haris Zambarloukos for “Belfast.” Additionally, the Spotlight category saw Ruben Impens recognized for “Titane,” Pat Scola for “Pig” and a very deserving Adolpho Velos for “Jockey.”

On the television side, other nominees included James Laxton for “The Underground Railroad,” Ben Richardson for “Mare of Easttown,” David Garbett for “Sweet Tooth” and Adam Bricker for “Hacks.

The American Society of Cinematographers on Tuesday unveiled nominations for its 36th annual ASC Awards, honoring the year’s best in feature film, documentary and television cinematography.

The society’s marquee Feature Film nominees include Bruno Delbonnel for The Tragedy of Macbeth, Greig Fraser for Dune, Dan Laustsen for Nightmare Alley, Ari Wegner for The Power of the Dog and Haris Zambarloukos for Belfast.

Last year, the ASC awarded Mank‘s Erik Messerschmidt with the Feature Film trophy, on his way to winning the Cinematography Oscar for the black-and-white film. This year, Belfast and Macbeth are also both black and white, along with for that matter Guillermo del Toro’s alt-version of Nightmare Alley.

The ASC film winner historically goes on to win the Oscar about half the time — 16 times in the past 35 years.

In TV, there were no repeats from last year’s shows on today’s list. Jon Joffin,...

“Dune,” “Belfast,” “Nightmare Alley,” “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and “The Power of the Dog” are among the films nominated by the American Society of Cinematographers in the feature film category.

The ASC nominees for feature film, documentary and television cinematography represent the organization’s picks for the most compelling visual filmmaking. Last year’s ASC feature film winner was “Mank” cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt who upset “Nomadland” Dp Joshua James Richards, the Oscar favorite. Messerschmidt went on to win the Best Cinematography Oscar.

Cinematographer Ari Wegner was nominated in the theatrical film category for her work on Netflix’s “The Power of the Dog,” becoming the second woman ever nominated by the guild, after Rachel Morrison for Dee Rees’ “Mudbound” (2017).

“Power of the Dog” director Jane Campion made history almost 30 years ago when she became the second woman ever to be nominated for best director for “The Piano” (1993) after Lina Wertmüller...

The New York Film Critics Circle is so determined to be one of the first groups to weigh in with its picks for the best of the year that the date of its decision-making keeps getting advanced. But how much influence does it have on the last group to be heard from — the motion picture academy which will reveal the Oscar winners 114 days from now on March 27, 2022? Let’s take a look back at the last 10 years of the NYFCC picks and see how well (or not), these early kudos previewed the Academy Awards.

Last year, the academy’s top winner, “Nomadland,” had to settle here for just the directing prize for multi-hyphenate Chloe Zhao. The NYFCC Best Picture was one indie film, “First Cow,” while Best Actress went to the star of another, Sidney Flanigan (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”). “Da 5 Bloods” took two trophies: Delroy Lindo claimed Best Actor,...

On Sunday, the national executive board of the International Cinematographers Guild unanimously agreed to support the IATSE nationwide strike vote, and encouraged its members to vote “Yes” in a new video. The action was taken at a meeting called by Icg national president John Lindley.

“The Elected Leaders of Local 600 spoke with one voice today on behalf of the thousands of their members who are unified in their resolve to get a fair deal from the employers who have walked away from the bargaining table,” Lindley said in a statement to Variety.

In a recent video released by the Icg, Rebecca Rhine, Associate National Executive Director told guild members: “The most important thing is that we send a powerful message to the employer, that we are united and that we have overwhelming support.”

In the video, the Cinematographers Guild urged its members to back the IATSE Strike authorization vote which is set for Oct.

The Underground Railroad star Thuso Mbedu, director Barry Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton joined The Hollywood Reporter to discuss their Emmy-nominated Amazon limited series, based on the acclaimed novel by Colson Whitehead, in a THR Presents Q&a powered by Vision Media.

For Jenkins, the Oscar-winning writer-director of Moonlight who has also earned an Emmy nomination for this series, the magical realism of Whitehead’s novel — which follows a young enslaved woman named Cora who embarks on a journey north to freedom on the titular abolitionist network, which in the story is an actual subterranean train system — evoked his childhood reaction to learning about the Underground Railroad. “As ...

The Underground Railroad star Thuso Mbedu, director Barry Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton joined The Hollywood Reporter to discuss their Emmy-nominated Amazon limited series, based on the acclaimed novel by Colson Whitehead, in a THR Presents Q&a powered by Vision Media.

For Jenkins, the Oscar-winning writer-director of Moonlight who has also earned an Emmy nomination for this series, the magical realism of Whitehead’s novel — which follows a young enslaved woman named Cora who embarks on a journey north to freedom on the titular abolitionist network, which in the story is an actual subterranean train system — evoked his childhood reaction to learning about the Underground Railroad. “As ...

When he first read Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad” back in 2016 with the hope of adapting it for screen, Barry Jenkins knew it couldn’t be a movie.

“That was actually one of the earliest conversations I had with Colson,” Jenkins said during a panel for TheWrap’s Emmy Season Screening Series on Monday. “I thought the best way to do this was to be really clear, and be really honest. So I told him I had no interest in making it as a feature film. It had to be a television show.”

What he and cinematographer James Laxton (a frequent collaborator of Jenkins’ who worked on both “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk”) didn’t know at the time was how ambitious that goal would turn out to be. Complicating things even further, Jenkins signed on to direct all 10 episodes of the Amazon limited series, with Laxton...

Sometimes your favorite filmmaker has several loyal collaborators who have yet to reach the top of the awards season mountain. And, often, it’s their Director of Photography. For someone like Wes Anderson, it’s Robert Yoeman. For Chloé Zhao, it’s Joshua James Richards. And for Barry Jenkins, it’s James Laxton. And while all three cinematographers earned Oscar nominations only to lose out to one of their peers, the latter of the three may earn a well-deserved Emmy Award next month.

Continue reading James Laxton On Taking ‘The Underground Railroad’ & A ‘Lion King’ Prequel [Interview] at The Playlist.

Traveling back in time allows cinematographers to celebrate the old while making something new.

“Fargo” (FX)

Nominated For Limited/Anthology Series Or Movie Cinematography For Season 4, Episode 9, “East/West”

“Fargo” showrunner Noah Hawley always meant for the ninth episode of Season 4, “East/West,” to be photographed in black and white.

Movie buffs will note the homage to “The Wizard of Oz” as the palette shifts from the established ‘50s Kodachrome color look after which the season had been fashioned, to black and white five minutes into the episode, and then shifts back at the end.

Another big influence, according to Dp Dana Gonzales, was Robert Frank’s photography book “The Americans.” “Not only was I interested in the look of the photographs, but also what Robert Frank captured in his images: the not-so-perfect, often-flawed America of the 1940s,” he says.

His biggest challenge was “creating a realistic period black and white look...

Disney+ flexed its sci-fi and superhero muscles at the Creative Arts Emmys on Tuesday. “The Mandalorian” came roaring back for Season 2 to lead all craft nominations with 17, followed by Marvel’s trippy “WandaVision,” which scored 15. For good measure, Marvel’s other series, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” added four craft noms.

However, Netflix topped everyone, led by “The Queen’s Gambit” with 12 noms, “The Crown” (Season 4) with 11, “Bridgerton” with eight, “The Umbrella Academy” with four, and “Halston” with three. HBO countered with “Lovecraft Country” garnering 11 noms and the buzzy “Mare of Easttown,” starring Kate Winslet, gathering nine, among other shows. Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Season 4) returned with eight noms, and Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” comedy tallied an impressive seven.

A few noteworthy craft standouts: Dana Gonzales’ brilliant black-and-white cinematography for “Fargo’s” “East/West” episode (FX), David Franco’s moody cinematography for HBO’s “Perry Mason” (“Chapter Two”), “Bridgerton...

Based on Colson Whitehead‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name and directed by Academy Award winner Barry Jenkins, “The Underground Railroad” is a 10-episode limited series that was released in its entirety on Amazon Prime Video on May 14. Although set in the 1850s, the story, which features everything from skyscrapers to elevators to underground railroads, is not, in terms of its themes, exclusive to that specific period in U.S. American history. It is both a story about Black endurance, resistance and resilience and one that serves as a reminder that racism is not only encrusted into the inception of the U.S. but still very much alive and kicking today. Scroll down to watch our 14 video interviews with top Emmy contenders from the show.

Thuso Mbedu stars as Cora Randall, an enslaved girl who makes a bid for freedom from slave-holding Georgia and, in turn, takes possession of her personhood.

“My hope was to recontextualize the way we view my ancestors,” says Barry Jenkins, the showrunner and director of Amazon’s 10-part limited series The Underground Railroad, adapted from Colson Whitehead’s bestselling 2016 novel of the same name. “We use this word ‘enslaved,’ which refers to what was done to them, not to who they were or what they did. And the journey of [protagonist] Cora is this wonderful example of [illustrating] who she was and what she did.”

The project reunites Jenkins with cinematographer James Laxton and editor Joi McMillon — his Fsu classmates and collaborators ...

“My hope was to recontextualize the way we view my ancestors,” says Barry Jenkins, the showrunner and director of Amazon’s 10-part limited series The Underground Railroad, adapted from Colson Whitehead’s bestselling 2016 novel of the same name. “We use this word ‘enslaved,’ which refers to what was done to them, not to who they were or what they did. And the journey of [protagonist] Cora is this wonderful example of [illustrating] who she was and what she did.”

The project reunites Jenkins with cinematographer James Laxton and editor Joi McMillon — his Fsu classmates and collaborators ...

In Barry Jenkins’s 10-part epic of slavery The Underground Railroad, a young slave named Cora (Thuso Mbedu) flees her Georgia plantation via a network of railways carved under the US South. That’s not the only fantastical element in this poignant, transcendent series adapted from Colson Whitehead’s 2016 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Teeming with surrealist details and anachronisms, the show “is fabulistic yet grittily real,” James Poniewozik writes at The New York Times, and by drawing on elements of fantasy, Hannah Giorgis notes at The Atlantic, the series “actually deepens the real-life atrocities it depicts.” But what is it about Jenkins’s depiction of such horrors that makes The Underground Railroad stand out from other slavery stories?“It’s a testament to Jenkins’s unflinching storytelling that the series never comes off as didactic or exploitative,” Clémence Michallon writes at The Independent: “the most painful scenes read instead as...

Curated by the IndieWire Crafts team, Craft Considerations is a platform for filmmakers to talk about recent work that we believe is worthy of awards consideration. In partnership with Amazon Studios for this inaugural edition, we are taking another look at the creation of “The Underground Railroad” with key members of the production team: cinematographer James Laxton, costume designer Caroline Eselin-Schaefer, and production designer Mark Friedberg talk about helping director Barry Jenkins adapt Colson Whitehead’s novel of the same name into a 10-part limited series. Watch the first installment, devoted to post-production, here.

“When working with Barry, what you get is this license to lean heavily into your craft,” said cinematographer James Laxton, who has worked with Jenkins since their film school days at Florida State University. “We’re only able to do that because he tells stories that need that from us. It’s one of my favorite parts about working with him.

Cinematographers are among the most important people on a film or television set. After all, so much of the visuals rely on their interpretation of what the director wants and the execution of the overall artistic vision. But as cinematographer Tim Ives (“Halston”) says during the Gold Derby Meet the Experts: Cinematographers panel, there is a misconception about his job that needs some clearing up.

“I think people think I did it all myself that don’t really know this business,” he says. “Everything that’s put in front of the camera is done way before I get there. I contribute to it but I’m certainly not the only one who is putting this thing that looks great out there. It takes a whole crew of so many people to do it.”

Adds James Laxton (“The Underground Railroad”), “We get a lot of credit for other peoples’ work quite often.

When longtime friends and collaborators Barry Jenkins and James Laxton — the director-cinematographer pairing behind “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk” — first discussed their new Amazon Prime Video series “The Underground Railroad,” there was one part of the project that was non-negotiable. Namely, how to avoid reveling in the violence brought against the slaves at the focus of Colson Whitehead’s narrative story.

“It’s a topic we discussed quite a lot about as you can imagine,” Laxton says during the Gold Derby Meet the Experts: Cinematographers panel. “It was really important to us not to be gratuitous or dip into the violence too heavy-handedly. Our goal was instead to root the camera perspective to particular characters, our main characters let’s say, and see and witness the trauma to their eyes — as opposed to say cutting to the whip and cutting to the impact and cutting to the grimace.

Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” series now presents single chats and a great group discussion with some of TV’s top cinematographers: Stuart Biddlecombe (‘Handmaid’s Tale’), Ben Richardson (‘Mare of Easttown’), Richard Vialet (‘P-Valley’), Tim Ives (‘Halston’) and James Laxton (‘Underground Railroad’). At first, our Creator and Digital Director Chris Rosen interviews them each one on one, then gathers them for a full, provocative group discussion.

Developed and directed by Barry Jenkins, and adapted from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Underground Railroad takes viewers into the world of slavery in the Deep South prior to the Civil War. Like Whitehead’s novel, the series integrates fantasy and mythological elements with real-life events. The Underground Railroad focuses on Cora Randall (played by Thuso Mbedu), who escapes from a cotton plantation in Georgia and travels through the Carolinas, Tennessee and Indiana to avoid recapture. Other characters include escaped slave Caesar (Aaron Pierre), slave hunter Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton) and Homer (Chase Dillon), Ridgeway’s young African-American companion. Cinematographer James Laxton has […]

The post “How Big Can We Get? What Crane is Available for This Day?” Dp James Laxton on The Underground Railroad first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Developed and directed by Barry Jenkins, and adapted from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Underground Railroad takes viewers into the world of slavery in the Deep South prior to the Civil War. Like Whitehead’s novel, the series integrates fantasy and mythological elements with real-life events. The Underground Railroad focuses on Cora Randall (played by Thuso Mbedu), who escapes from a cotton plantation in Georgia and travels through the Carolinas, Tennessee and Indiana to avoid recapture. Other characters include escaped slave Caesar (Aaron Pierre), slave hunter Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton) and Homer (Chase Dillon), Ridgeway’s young African-American companion. Cinematographer James Laxton has […]

The post “How Big Can We Get? What Crane is Available for This Day?” Dp James Laxton on The Underground Railroad first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

You’d be forgiven for mistaking the opening of The Underground Railroad, Barry Jenkins’s new miniseries, for a recap montage, meant to get viewers up to speed. The sequence, which encapsulates images of birth and death and a flurry of characters, has a distinctly serial TV quality to it (“Previously on…”), but the final image it lands on and segues to is something less contrivedly banal: a young Black woman alone in the field staring directly at the camera and at us. Connoisseurs of Jenkins’s work will spot this technique as a holdover from his last movie, If Beale Street Could Talk, where characters from James Baldwin’s novel met the viewer’s gaze and spoke forthrightly to the audience. It is flourishes like these that animate Jenkins’s urgent, insistently beautiful adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s 2016 novel about the travails of Cora, a slave woman who escapes...

Again and again throughout Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad, the Oscar-winning Moonlight director will pause the story to present a tableau of his huge cast of black characters. These shots are stunning in their composition, as if Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton are painting an entirely different vision of American history than the one you most commonly find in textbooks and on museum walls. It’s an appropriate touch for a story that weaves in agonizingly real details from our horrible past...

Five top TV cinematographers will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Btl Experts” Q&a event with key 2021 guild and Emmy contenders this month. Each person will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Monday, May 17, at 5:00 p.m. Pt; 8:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Christopher Rosen and a group chat with Christopher and all of the group together.

RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

This “Meet the Btl Experts” panel welcomes the following 2021 guild and Emmy contenders:

“Halston”: Tim Ives

Ives was a two-time Emmy nominee for “Stranger Things.” Other projects have included “Fosse/Verdon,” “Girls” and “House of Cards.

Andrei Tarkovsky was the name on Barry Jenkins‘ lips as the main influence for his television adaptation of “The Underground Railroad.” Not the first name to think of when considering the enormity of Colson Whitehead’s 2016 novel. The story: a combination of the distressing tribulations of an escapee slave girl with a hefty volume of magical realism, doesn’t immediately describe the Russian auteur. And yet, the luminous visuals lensed by cinematographer James Laxton hark back to “Instant Light,” a small collection of polaroid photos taken by Tarkovsky.

Continue reading ‘The Underground Railroad’: Barry Jenkins’ Brings Poetic ‘Instant Light’ To The Ideas Of Black Humanity & Emancipation [Review] at The Playlist.

Amazon Prime just won a couple of Oscars for their film “Sound of Metal,” and now the streaming service is jumping right into Emmy season with “Beyond the Screen” virtual events and a “Prime Video Presents” podcast to promote their slate of programs from May 1 through June 10. Their events can be found on the Emmys FYC calendar.

Among the programs being promoted by Amazon this season include the sci-fi dramas “The Boys” and “The Expanse”; the Barry Jenkins limited series “The Underground Railroad”; the telefilms “Uncle Frank,” “Yearly Departed,” and “Sylvie’s Love”; the documentary “All In: The Fight for Democracy“; the anthologies “Solos” and “Them”; and the theatrical special “What the Constitution Means to Me.”

Seersvp now for May 10: TV documentary directors for ‘Framing Britney Spears,’ ‘Heaven’s Gate,’ ‘High on the Hog,’ ‘Seduced,’ ‘The Year Earth Changed’ join Gold Derby’s Meet the Experts series

“Beyond the Screen” kicked...

Amazon Prime Video has once again put a pause on its annual in-person Emmy FYC pop-up events space due to the pandemic. But in its place, the streamer has curated a virtual experience, dubbed “Beyond the Screen,” that kicks off this weekend with an evening devoted to the stars, crafts and music of Steve McQueen’s anthology series “Small Axe.”

Variety has the exclusive roundup of the Emmy FYC panels, screenings, podcasts and performances that will kick off Amazon Studios and Prime Video’s campaign starting May 1, and continuing through June 10.

Talent populating the panels, set to be streamed for Television Academy members, include McQueen and John Boyega (“Small Axe”); Barry Jenkins and Joel Edgerton (“The Underground Railroad”), and Karl Urban, Antony Starr, Aya Cash and Jack Quaid (“The Boys”). Other contenders participating include “Solos,” “Sylvie’s Love,” “The Expanse,” “Them,” “Uncle Frank,” “What The Constitution Means To Me” and “Yearly Departed.

"Nothing was given, all was earned. Hold on to what belongs to you." Amazon Studios has revealed a full-length official trailer for Barry Jenkins' latest project, The Underground Railroad, a 10-episode mini-series streaming on Prime Video starting this May. This is one we definitely will break our no-tv rules to feature, not only because it's Barry Jenkins, but because it looks seriously incredible. No surprise there. A young woman named Cora makes an amazing discovery during her attempt to break free from slavery in the deep south. The Underground Railroad features Thuso Mbedu as Cora, plus Chase W. Dillon and Joel Edgerton. Joined by Aaron Pierre, William Jackson Harper, Sheila Atim, Amber Gray, Peter De Jersey, Chukwudi Iwuji, Damon Herriman, Lily Rabe, Mychal-Bella Bowman, Irone Singleton, Marcus "Mj" Gladney, Jr., Will Poulter, and Peter Mullan. Barry Jenkins is the series showrunner. Featuring cinematography by James Laxton, and a score by Jenkins' usual composer Nicholas Britell.

Colson Whitehead’s 2016 novel “The Underground Railroad” — inspired by the real-life network of secret routes and safe houses used by enslaved African-Americans to escape into free states and Canada — imagines an alternate history where the truth is closer to fiction. Now, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has been adapted into a highly-anticipated live-action TV series by writer/director/showrunner Barry Jenkins, for Amazon Prime Video. The Oscar-winning filmmaker has shared another teaser for the upcoming series, giving audiences a breathtaking, ethereal look via a short clip released on Monday.

The new teaser, titled “In Aeternum,” which is Latin for “forever,” unfolds entirely in reverse motion. The idea started with a composition by Jenkins’ “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk” composer, Nicholas Britell. “I said to Nick, is there a way to compose with chords that have the same feelings, same energy, the same power in reverse as they do play forwards?...