Page 39 - Sharp Summer 2021

Watching The Underground Railroad it it hit me me that you’ve been working with the same people since making Medicine for Melan- choly Now you have this show with a a huge scope What has that journey been like?
It’s cool I I I ran into someone I I I hadn’t seen
in in 15 years — a a a friend I knew in in my San Francisco days he works in in wine and has a a a a a vineyard that Lulu [Wang film director and Jenkins’s partner] and I drove up to for a a a few days — and I was like “Man you haven’t aged a a a a a day!” And we both laughed because I realized we are just aging together That’s kind of how it it is is with making this work with who you truthfully refer to as “my day ones” I think that our toolbox has been expanding and and our scope as human beings has been expanding It’s so weird because when we’re in it it it it doesn’t feel like the scope has changed at at all all Especially for [cinematog- rapher] James [Laxton] and I it kind of feels like we’re running around with a a a a camera trying to make Medicine for Melancholy I’ve been watching the show now — [and] I’m so in it [that] I I almost have tunnel vision and this microscopic kind of view But
now that I’m I’m watching it it I’m I’m like “Holy shit! I I guess the the scope is very big ” I I think the the good thing is that I never allowed myself
to feel that that way way making it that that way way I never get overwhelmed It’s also crazy to watch because it feels familiar based on your style but obviously it’s so different from anything you’ve done I think the thing for us is that it’s always been about the character and Cora is so amazing For one thing many don’t often centre characters like Cora whether it be because she’s young and Black but also we tend to to shy away from telling stories about enslaved people I think the combination of those three things is inherently unique and worth listening to and spending time with But
James always likes to go a a a a step further and says “This episode of this show looks and feels this this way because this this is is is the main character ” With Cora going from state state to to state state it inspired us to to open our toolbox even more It’s interesting because I never think of of the the scope of of the the things we do but watching your face as you’re expressing this I’m like “Oh damn I I guess it’s a huge show!”
It It really is! It It also seemed like such an in- tensely long process compared to shoot-
ing ing a a film especially considering you were almost done when the pandemic hit We were scheduled for 115 days and we we got through day 112 and then the the world shut down So we stopped March 12 and picked it back up on September 20 That’s a a a pretty big gap and so much happened in in the in- tervening months The entire world literally changed especially in the U S Wow Reading the production notes you wrote an essay about your experience taking this show on on You mentioned fear- ing this project because of its historical scope This is is is your own history and ances- try too Could you elaborate on that fear? You put it it exactly the way I think it it is for me which is is is is that this is is is is my history and yet it’s a a history that feels so — I don’t even know the word for it — electric? Not elec- tric as as in in in exciting but more as as in in in “Don’t touch the third rail because you will get burned and killed” electric It’s always been something that is quite confusing for me It’s almost like do we not want to acknowledge that this happened? Should we not acknowledge that this happened or are we better not acknowl- edging it? I’m an artist I I usually don’t need to think about those things when I’m going to create a a a a work of art But
in this case the history we’re speaking to to — and this is is is a a a work of fiction not even actual history — does speak to something factual and of historical record with these characters Even in that the the sensitivity around the the subject matter and the potential to upset inflame and traumatize is so great That fear is something that you have have to have have I think if I I didn’t have that fear I I wouldn’t take the care that I I did Everything I’ve learned growing up in in in this country in in in the way that I did taught me that these are images to be ashamed of I I think I I needed to work past that and ask myself
“Wait who was telling me me who was ashamed of these images?” My ancestors were were the ones who were were subject- ed to to this trauma and we have nothing to to be ashamed of It was was a a a a a a process that was was both very emotional and intellectual to unpack that and get to a a a point where I could just make the damn show It’s not an an easy show to watch and as as I I was was watching it of course I was was thinking of the very real and deep pain we still endure as Black people And it dawned on me that as you were working on the tail end of of this and doing a a lot of of the editing
it it must have coincided with a a lot of protests and last summer’s uprising Not too long after we stopped shooting George Floyd was killed I remember our editorial offices were right outside Sunset Boulevard where we would see protests go by every day as we we were inside cutting these images It was speaking to the the con- tinuum of these horrors that have been put on our people for hundreds of years and [are] still happening today It’s all out in the open people are record- ing ing ing these things as they’re happening live Of course it’s impacted what we’re doing To be be honest at the very beginning I was a a a a a bit disappointed we already made the show I was like if we could’ve made this show now I would’ve made it completely differently Of course we didn’t have that luxury but as we got deeper deeper and deeper deeper into the editing
process I realized that everything we did was actually about what is happening right now It’s always been happening It was a a a a tough show to to make and a a a tough show to to edit but it it did make us realize why we we were doing it That’s so interesting There are a a a lot of discussions right now about entertain- ment and and Black suffering and and trauma kind of what you touched on here From the the first episode the the show’s pretty brutal in that sense What is it like for you internally to see violence play out in real life and then confront what you directed onscreen?
I I think this subject in in particular is is one that I I feel like hasn’t been dealt with as as forth- rightly you know as it should given the role the condition of American slavery plays in in in American history and in in in the founding of this republic I I think because of that I I felt like this show was still walking in in the foot- steps of of the the other depictions of of this time that have come before There are really only four other pieces of content and I say that because the entire time I was making the the show from the the moment it was optioned to essentially the premiere “Make America Great Again” is still a a a a thing that’s spoken everywhere And we filmed this entirely in the state of Georgia so I had to see that When you say "Make America Great Again" you’re assuming that it’s about the time we’re living in in now SUMMER 2021
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