When Oscar-winning director
Barry Jenkins was considering adapting Colson Whitehead s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the Underground Railroad into a limited series, he kept hearing the same thing: impossible.
It would be emotionally and mentally draining, Jenkins knew. Ultimately he worked through the doubts and the result is The Underground Railroad.
The project is an unflinching portrayal of Cora, an enslaved woman who escapes a Georgia plantation only to be pursued by an unrelenting bounty hunter.
Along the way she must confront the anger she feels for her mother, who left her at the plantation when she was 10.
The 10-hour limited series was the most satisfying creative experience of my life, said Jenkins, who won an Oscar in 2017 for Moonlight and was nominated again the next year for If Beale Street Could Talk.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins was considering adapting Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the Underground Railroad into a limited series, he kept hearing the same
By AMANDA LEE MYERS
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) â When Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins was considering adapting Colson Whiteheadâs Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the Underground Railroad into a limited series, he kept hearing the same thing: Impossible.
It would be emotionally and mentally draining, Jenkins knew. And he questioned the ethics of such a production: Do people really need to be reminded about the horrors of slavery?
Ultimately, Jenkins worked through the doubts. The result is âThe Underground Railroad,â an unflinching portrayal of Cora, an enslaved woman who escapes a Georgia plantation and its horrors only to be pursued by an unrelenting bounty hunter. Along the way she must confront the anger she feels for her mother, who left her at the plantation when she was 10.
Amazon series: Barry Jenkins on his unflinching epic ‘Underground Railroad’
Updated May 12, 2021;
By Amanda Lee Myers | The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES When Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins was considering adapting Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the Underground Railroad into a limited series, he kept hearing the same thing: Impossible.
It would be emotionally and mentally draining, Jenkins knew. And he questioned the ethics of such a production: Do people really need to be reminded about the horrors of slavery?
Ultimately, Jenkins worked through the doubts. The result is “The Underground Railroad,” an unflinching portrayal of Cora, an enslaved woman who escapes a Georgia plantation and its horrors only to be pursued by an unrelenting bounty hunter. Along the way she must confront the anger she feels for her mother, who left her at the plantation when she was 10.
Amanda Lee Myers
FILE - Barry Jenkins arrives at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 5, 2020. Jenkins latest project, the 10-hour limited series âThe Underground Railroad,â premieres Thursday on Amazon. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) May 12, 2021 - 7:11 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP) â When Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins was considering adapting Colson Whiteheadâs Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the Underground Railroad into a limited series, he kept hearing the same thing: Impossible.
It would be emotionally and mentally draining, Jenkins knew. And he questioned the ethics of such a production: Do people really need to be reminded about the horrors of slavery?