Top Stories
1. The swimming scene was realer than we thought
When Juan teaches Little how to swim in the movie, Mahershala Ali (the actor) was actually teaching Alex R. Hibbert (the actor) how to swim. When production started, Hibbert did not know how to swim.
The script originally featured two scenes of Juan attempting to teach Little how to do somethingriding a bike and swimmingbut Jenkins realized the latter was the far more potent of the two. It also fit the developing theme of water and ocean as this place of possibility. They put the camera in the water with the characters, and after realizing that an impending storm was cutting their time short they captured one of the years most beautiful sequences.
2. Now that's true talent
Naomie Harris had to shoot her entire role in three days, in between her promotional tour of Spectre (2015), due to a visa problem (Harris is British). The scenes spanned 15 years in the character's life and were filmed out of sequence.
3. The actors never got to meet the other "them"
In an interview, Barry Jenkins said that the three actors who play Chiron never met during production. He wanted each of them to build their own persona of Chiron during their respective segments, with no influence from the other portrayals. The same technique was used with the actors who play Kevin. Afterward, they all got meet the other "them's".
4. The director and writer drew a lot from their own upbringings
Both director Barry Jenkins and writer Tarell Alvin McCraney's vision was pretty clear and singular. Even though they didn't know each other before the film, both of these men grew up in the same Liberty City neighborhood of Miami with mothers who struggled with drug addiction. Roughly 80% of the film was shot on location here one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the United States. Initially the production was apprehensive about safety issues until the word got out that Jenkins was from the neighborhood - then everything changed for the better. The locals couldn't have been more welcoming and cooperative. Naomie Harris has said that she'd never felt so appreciated and at ease on a film set during the shoot.
5. The movie was based on a play of a similar name
The film is based on the unproduced play "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue" by MacArthur Fellow Tarell Alvin McCraney.
6. There wasn't enough money for more than one trailer
Budgetary constraints on this production made it so that the cast had to share one trailer for costume, hair and makeup and one rest room stall had to be (Continued)
Continue reading on the next page!
one restroom stall had to be shared by cast and crew. "Hurry up, I can't hold it any longer!" was probably a common phrase on set.
7. Jenkins and Jerome decided that Chiron had never kissed anybody before.
The director didnt want to avoid an overt moment of sensuality in the film as it felt like a cop-out. The beach scene between Chiron and Kevin (played by Jharrel Jerome) felt like the moment where this [more overt] side of the character had to come to the surface. Jerome, the actor, asked the director before shooting the scene what it was about, and Jenkins described it as a moment about caring for someone else. Jenkins explained that, He got really, really quiet, and I knew he wanted to ask a question. And hes like, Is this the first time this character has ever kissed another man? And I said no. Is this the first time Chiron kissed another man? I didnt say anything. Jenkins says he prefers arriving at an answer with the actors rather than simply giving them one, and Jerome concluded that Chiron had never kissed anybody, period. And from then he knew what his role was in the scene.
8. Barry Jenkins decided to play Jukebox music on the actual jukebox
The second song that plays in the Diner is "Hello Stranger" by Barbara Lewis. Director Barry Jenkins made the decision to actually play the song on the jukebox in the background while they were filming to make it more authentic.
9. The game the boys play in the field has an interestingly related name
"Throw up tackle" is the name of a game that the boys play in the field. The game involves creating a ball of some sort, throwing it into the air, and then tackling whoever catches it. Interestingly, Jenkins recalls a crew-member saying that where he grew up they called it Smear the Queer. He finds that interesting as he never heard it referred to by that name despite the black community being the one supposedly known for its rampant homophobia.
10. There was an impromptu scene to make you engage with Paula
Director Barry Jenkins' favorite scene in his film was an impromptu sequence of Paula (Naomie Harris) staring straight into the camera overcranked at 48fps. This was a last-minute decision by Jenkins specifically intended to fully engage the audience with Paula's character.
11. Jenkins' own childhood setting inspired Moonlight's
For the setting, Director Barry Jenkins was inspired by his own childhood in Miami, where he was "always surrounded by this very lush green grass and these beautiful golden sunsets." He grew up in "an awesome neighborhood where some very dark things happened." He feels as though his childhood was "a beautiful struggle."
12. Hopefully the forth of many...
With his Oscar nomination, Barry Jenkins has become only the (Continued)