Moonlight scored a bunch of great and worthy Oscar nominations. The writer-director Barry Jenkins (seen above) got two nominations, one co-writing the adapted screenplay and one for directing. The film is nominated for Best Picture and both Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali picked up Oscar nominations in the supporting categories. Moonlight was one of the first Oscar-bait films I saw this season, and it’s easily my favorite, and it’s the film with which I’ve ended up comparing all other Oscar-bait films. Moonlight is WAY better than La La Land, I’m just saying. Nomination-wise, Moonlight did what it needed to do and that film is leading the charge for one of the most diverse Oscars ever. Do I still think it’s an uphill battle? For sure. Do I think Mahershala Ali will absolutely win? No. Do I think Barry Jenkins should win Best Director over Damien Chazelle? Maybe.
Now that the noms are in and everyone can really get to campaigning full-time, there are so many conversations happening about what these noms mean for storytelling. Moonlight is the rare film about the African-American experience – a very specific African-American experience – set in the modern world, with no speaking roles for white folks, and where the main crux of the story isn’t even explicitly about race. This isn’t a film about slavery or historically significant African-Americans being groundbreaking in the past. And that’s groundbreaking in and of itself. But Barry Jenkins thinks that Moonlight’s unique story and Oscar noms are no big deal. It’s not like every Oscar-nominated “black film” has to be about slavery, so says Barry. But just wait until the end of the story.
Barry Jenkins — nominated for two Oscars on Tuesday for his acclaimed “Moonlight” — said such films prove black actors can be recognized for a range of projects in Hollywood.
“I think the myth that you have to play a slave to win an Academy Award is just that . . . a myth,” he recently told Page Six before the nominations. “I don’t even engage in that. I just tried to make the best film that had truthfulness to what I experienced growing up.”
The drama’s a coming-of-age story set in Miami.
Ironically, for his next film, Jenkins admitted, “OK, so this is funny. I am actually working on [adapting] the book ‘The Underground Railroad’ by Colson Whitehead.”
I’m sorry, but I laughed. You guys, it’s totally a myth that the Academy will only recognize films about slavery, look at Moonlight, but yeah my next film is about slavery. Barry Jenkins fell into the trap!!! So… I disagree with Barry, but I respect his game. I think he’s doing what he needs to do and saying what he needs to say so that he won’t alienate all of those old white dudes in the Academy, because those are exactly the same dudes voting to nominate 12 Years a Slave and not Fruitvale Station. No disrespect to 12 Years, which is an amazing, heartbreaking film and it absolutely deserved to win Best Picture. But Fruitvale Station was also heart-wrenching and centered by a tour-de-force performance (big ups to Michael B. Jordan) and that film got jack squat. You know why? Because it was a modern story, it wasn’t about slavery and it was about the difficult conversations around modern race relations and the policing of communities of color. Is it possible that Moonlight is more palatable to the Academy because the story isn’t “political”?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I don’t see what the big deal is with him making a movie about slavery. Slavery, and only slavery, in films getting black artists awards is a completely different discussion but him making the movie in the first place makes perfect sense. The past must be dealt with and America hasn’t dealt with slavery and racism yet, look at the elected president. Making movies about a VERY important part of collective black consciousness is one way to go about it.
He makes a fair point although I am here for the shots-fired approach of his comment. Really hammers home his point, LOL.
Ali is really gorgeous….what a looker.
Oh you caught the same shade I caught, right?? I was like OOP!
@QQ, right, very shady yet very slick!
Please nicely explain the shade to the ignoramus in Britland? If there’s a righteous joke, I want to be in on it! Sorry to be a pain!
I think he may have been being ironic in the first part of his statement (intentionally or unintentionally, I’m not sure), and then followed up with the reality of the situation through his own admission of directing a movie about slavery. The follow-up to the first part of his statement was kind of funny. Like, oops there it is.
@Sixer, the ”I don’t engage in that bit” was the part for me that was shady. Lupes won an Oscar for playing a slave and he is saying it is a myth LOL? I think he was having a dig not at her specifically but the idea that black actors only get attention for playing roles connected to slavery.
Thank you!
Oh Barry…no.
Frankly Moonlight should win supporting and best film. I will seriously flip a table if Ali does not win. He’s heads and shoulders above the competition and swept the awards aside from the GGs. All good signs.
I can’t believe the oldest version of Chrion didn’t get a nomination either-the last scene with him broke my heart. Heck-all three chirons deserve noms too. Moonlight has no serious competition for the Oscar honestly-Lala land was cute, but lazy in that instead of building on top of the musical genre, it just copied it in a derivative and monotonous way. It was cute for awhile, but the effing second time we are back at the Griffith Observatory, my eyes were permanently rolled into the back of my head.
Am I a weirdo for loving when men fastening their suit jackets? Cutie!
Nope, it emphasizes the shoulders and tightens the sleeves around their toned arms. Buttons are thirst traps
Ha ha ha thirst traps, I am here for this one!
Girl no! That’s the hottest thing ever lol
LOL finally, I always think it is so sexy.
Agree with all of this, plus it puts focus on a man’s hands, which can be one of my favorite parts of the body!
Nope. He’s wearing tf out of that suit and I’m here for it. ;’)
What myth is that? Does someone really believe that? Only someone who’s never seen the Oscars could say that. When black actors have won the Oscar in the last three decades, only once it’s been for playing a slave (Lupita Nyong’o in 2014). And only one has been in a movie which main theme was about racial issues in America. Let’s see the list:
Octavia Spencer: Won in 2011 for playing a sassy maid in a racist world.
Mo’Nique: Won in 2009 for playing an abusive mother.
Forest Whitaker: Won in 2006 for playing a tyrannical leader.
Jennifer Hudson: Won in 2006 for playing a music diva.
Jamie Foxx: Won in 2004 for playing a famous musician.
Denzel Washington: Won in 2001 for playing a corrupt cop.
Halle Berry: Won in 2001 for playing a struggling mother.
Cuba Gooding Jr.: Won in 1996 for playing a loud football player.
You forgot Denzel Washington 1990 best supporting Oscar for playing a soldier in Glory.
You forgot Whoopi Goldberg 1991 best supporting actress for playing a fake psychic/medium in Ghost.
I think that’s precisely why he called it a myth.
Black people don’t necessarily have to play slaves to win oscars, but the vast majority of black Oscar winners can be placed in 2 categories 1) a character in a film about racism and oppression
2) playing a real-life character in a biopic.
In other words, it is pretty rare to see a black person win an Oscar for a role in which their race is irrelevant.
It is rare but Cuba Gooding race was irrelevant in Jerry McGuire.
Whoopi Goldberg’s race was irrelevant in Ghost
Denzel’s race was irrelevant in Training Day
Jennifer Hudson’s race was somewhat irrelevant in Dream Girls. I say somewhat irrelevant because in the movie they wanted the lighter skinned Black girl with the soft voice to take the lead as oppose to the shade darker Black girl with the heavier powerful voice.
Lastly if you took the movie Precious and changed the location and the Black characters to White there are plenty of White Americans that can identify with what Precious went through with having a mom like Mo’Nique’s character.
Whoopi as Oda Mae Brown was peak “Magical Negro” .
Interesting tidbit about the scene in the ocean from Moonlight.The child actor could not swim so Mahershala Ali was really teaching him how to swim in the ocean.Of course they had other people ,including divers, out there but the boy still had to trust these people with his life.
I’d love to see Moonlight win best picture, but I’d settle for Hidden Figures over La La Land. I will be angry if/when Chazelle wins over Jenkins in the Director category. Like, I’ve budgeted emotion for that.
Off topic: I just saw La La Land and I don’t want to hear either of them sing live at the Oscars. I almost walked out during their first duet. I enjoyed the movie though. I do feel like better musicals have been made and have gone unrewarded though. Hell, Dreamgirls was better.
I enjoyed the lala land too but it really annoyed me that they had a great premise, and yet didn’t take more opportunity to take the retro-musical premise, and really do interesting things with it. Just the LA setting alone-why bother with the overused Griffith Conversatory and set them in the maze garden at the Getty-why just fall back on the cliches at every turn. I just feel like with more creativity they could have made something much more interesting. And better music too…