How Did Barry Jenkins Use Music In The Underground Railroad?

Seeing 'The Underground Railroad' on screen felt like watching a fever dream that someone had lovingly translated into film language. Barry Jenkins took Colson Whitehead’s novel and treated it less like a literal script to follow than like a set of blueprints for mood, metaphor, and emotion. He kept the novel’s bold conceit—the railroad as an actual subterranean transit system—but leaned hard into cinematic choices to make that conceit live: distinct visual palettes for each state, long contemplative shots, and a rhythm that lets silence and sound design do heavy lifting. The result is a ten-episode limited series that reads like a collection of interlinked short films rather than a traditional TV thriller. Technically, Jenkins used everything in his toolbox. He adapted the book’s episodic structure into discrete chapters you can feel; he collaborated with a close-knit creative team (the score, the production design, the camera work) to turn interior monologue into image. Performances were shaped to center Cora’s interior life—so even when exposition is sparse, the camera carries her memory and trauma. He didn’t just translate plot beats: he expanded scenes, stretched silences, and sometimes rearranged order so emotional truth landed stronger on screen. I watched it twice in a row, and each rewatch revealed new texture—costume details, background faces, shifts in color that felt like punctuation. If you loved the book, you’ll notice liberties and additions; if you’ve never read it, the series stands as its own bold piece of cinema that asks you to sit with discomfort and beauty at once.

If you're curious about Barry Jenkins' next film, I feel the same mix of impatience and excitement — he tends to take his time and it usually pays off. Looking at his track record (he gave us 'Moonlight' in 2016, 'If Beale Street Could Talk' in 2018 and then the series 'The Underground Railroad' in 2021), you can see he moves deliberately between projects, often spending years in development, research, and crafting the screenplay. As of mid-2024 there wasn't a widely confirmed release date for a new Jenkins-directed feature film, so there wasn't a firm day on the calendar I could circle. Practically, the timeline for any new Barry Jenkins movie depends on where a project sits: development, pre-production, shooting, or post-production. If he announced a project entering production in 2024, a realistic theatrical release window might easily be 2025–2026, given festival strategies and distribution deals. Jenkins often premieres projects at major festivals — keep an eye on Cannes, Venice, TIFF, and Telluride for early festival screenings or premieres, because that's where his films tend to show up. If you want to be first in the know, I follow a few habits: bookmark Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, follow Jenkins' verified social accounts (they'll post production updates or first images), and watch festival lineups when they go live. I check IndieWire and local film festival pages too. It's a small ritual now: new Jenkins news = immediate group chat with friends. Fingers crossed he'll announce something soon — I can't wait to see what he does next.

I still get a little giddy talking about how Barry Jenkins and James Laxton found their groove together. Over the past decade Laxton has been Jenkins' signature lens: he shot 'Moonlight', which won hearts (and Oscars) for its intimate, painterly look, and he followed up with the lush, tactile visuals of 'If Beale Street Could Talk'. He also played a leading role on 'The Underground Railroad', helping Jenkins translate his literary and emotional sensibility into striking, period-drenched imagery. Watching those three projects back-to-back is like seeing an artist and his primary brush develop a shared vocabulary—color, texture, and a very human proximity to faces and skin tones. Laxton's style—soft, saturated colors that still feel lived-in, and camera work that’s often both patient and physically close—matches Jenkins' storytelling priorities: character, memory, and mood. Jenkins has used other directors of photography on smaller or more specific projects, but none of them have been as consistently present as Laxton. For me, their collaboration is like listening to a favorite band where the songwriter and lead guitarist just intuit each other's moves; it’s the reason some moments in those films feel like they could only exist in that precise pairing. If you haven’t rewatched those films with an eye on the cinematography, try it—you’ll notice how decisions about light and frame do half the emotional work, and you start to appreciate Laxton as a true co-author rather than just a technician.

In 'The Underground Railroad', Colson Whitehead doesn’t just tell a story about slavery—he reimagines it with a raw, unflinching lens. The novel takes the historical concept of the Underground Railroad and turns it into a literal network of tunnels and trains, which adds a surreal, almost dystopian layer to the narrative. This choice amplifies the horror and absurdity of slavery, making it feel both historical and eerily contemporary. What struck me most was how Whitehead doesn’t shy away from the brutality. Scenes like Cora’s punishment on the Randall plantation or the medical experiments in South Carolina are gut-wrenching, but they’re necessary. They force you to confront the inhumanity of the system. At the same time, the book isn’t just about suffering. It’s about resilience. Cora’s journey is a testament to the strength of the human spirit, even in the face of unimaginable cruelty. What I appreciate is how Whitehead balances the personal and the systemic. Through Cora’s eyes, we see the individual cost of slavery, but the novel also explores how slavery was embedded in every aspect of society—economy, law, culture. It’s a reminder that the fight for freedom wasn’t just about escaping chains; it was about dismantling an entire way of life.

Watching 'Moonlight' the first time, the color felt like a language I didn’t know I spoke—soft blues, saturated teals, and occasional neon that seemed to translate feeling into light. For me, Barry Jenkins chose that palette because he wanted the film to read like a memory and a mood rather than a straightforward chronicle. He and his collaborators layered color to mark Chiron’s inner life across the three chapters: the hues shift subtly to track vulnerability, confusion, yearning, and eventual quiet strength. That sea-blue motif keeps returning (water scenes, night skies, the glow of streetlights) because water itself is a throughline—baptism, refuge, and the source of longing. Technically, Jenkins worked closely with his cinematographer and production team to build those tones with practical lights, gels, and delicate color timing in post. The aim wasn’t a flashy palette for its own sake; it was to honor Black skin and intimacy on screen, rendering faces and textures with richness instead of the washed-out grey that sometimes creeps into lower-budget cinema. The colors also turn ordinary Miami into something mythic—neon becomes emotional punctuation, fluorescent interiors feel like memory boxes, and each chapter's light choices help us live Chiron’s feelings rather than just watch them. In short, Jenkins used color as emotional architecture, and for me that’s what makes 'Moonlight' feel like a lived, breathing poem rather than just a movie.

I got hooked on how Barry Jenkins cast for 'Moonlight' because it felt less like a conventional Hollywood search and more like building a found family. He wanted people who could carry truth and vulnerability, not just technical acting chops, so the process leaned heavily on open calls in Miami and patient chemistry work. For the central role of Chiron, Jenkins cast three actors—Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes—who weren’t just physically plausible across ages but who shared a similar emotional language. He looked for the gestures, the silences, the ways they held themselves; matching those subtle rhythms mattered more than exact facial resemblance. He brought in local kids, lesser-known performers, and a few actors with some credits, then ran layered auditions: solo readings, improvisations, and group scenes to see how people reacted together. Jenkins and his team prioritized naturalism, so auditions often felt like conversations or slice-of-life exercises. He also tested dynamics—putting potential Chirons in scenes with prospective Kevins or Juan—to see if the chemistry felt lived-in. For key adult roles he did bring in slightly more established actors—Mahershala Ali as Juan and André Holland as the older Kevin—because their presence helped anchor the younger performers and the film’s tonal shifts. The whole casting approach felt collaborative and slow-brewing, like letting a film family find itself rather than picking from a catalog, and that patience shows on screen.

My brain still lights up when I think about 'Moonlight' and what it did at the Oscars — it felt like a personal win for people who love quiet, gentle storytelling. Barry Jenkins himself won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, which he shared with Tarell Alvin McCraney. That’s the big, concrete thing everyone remembers: the Oscar statuette for writing the screenplay, officially credited to Jenkins and McCraney for their adaptation of McCraney’s unpublished play. The whole awards night was wild because the film also took Best Picture (the producers received that trophy), and Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor. Jenkins was nominated for Best Director as well, which was huge recognition even though he didn’t win that one. Beyond the Oscars, 'Moonlight' and Jenkins collected lots of critics’ prizes and festival acclaim — think of the way the indie film world and critics’ circles embraced it, plus several honors from independent-film organizations. For a director who came out of relative obscurity, those combined wins and nominations turned Jenkins into a name people watched. I still find it inspiring how a small, tender film could break through like that; Jenkins’ Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay is the headline, but the ripple effects — nominations, festival love, and the Best Picture moment — are part of the win too.

In 'The Underground Railroad', Colson Whitehead reimagines the historical network of secret routes and safe houses as an actual railroad, blending brutal realism with speculative fiction. The novel follows Cora, a young enslaved woman, as she escapes a Georgia plantation and travels through different states, each representing a unique facet of America’s racial history. Whitehead doesn’t shy away from the horrors of slavery—whippings, lynchings, and systemic dehumanization are depicted with unflinching detail. Yet, the railroad itself becomes a symbol of hope and resistance, a tangible manifestation of the collective struggle for freedom. What struck me most was how Whitehead uses each state to explore historical themes. South Carolina, for instance, initially seems progressive with its schools and hospitals for Black people, but it’s revealed to be a facade for eugenics experiments. North Carolina, on the other hand, is a nightmarish landscape where Black people are outlawed entirely, reflecting the extreme racism of certain historical periods. These settings aren’t just backdrops; they’re characters in their own right, forcing Cora—and the reader—to confront the multifaceted nature of oppression. The novel also delves into the psychological toll of slavery. Cora’s journey isn’t just physical; it’s a battle for her sense of self-worth and humanity. Her relationships with other characters, like Caesar and Royal, highlight the complexities of trust and solidarity in a world designed to break bonds. Whitehead’s prose is both lyrical and harrowing, making the historical events feel immediate and personal. By blending fact with fiction, he creates a narrative that’s not just about the past but also a mirror to the present.