Oscars: 5 things you didn't know about Moonlight
Fascinating facts about the powerful best picture Oscar nominee
The Oscars are right around the corner, and to mark the occasion, we've gathered five fascinating facts about each of this year's Academy Award best picture nominees.
Here they are for Barry Jenkins' Moonlight, which is nominated for eight Oscars including best picture, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best director, best cinematography and best original music score.
1. Moonlight cost just $5 million to make. To give a sense of how small that is in Hollywood terms, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story had a budget of $200 million.
2. Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney wrote the semi-autobiographical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue to help deal with the death of his mother, who died of AIDS. The play, which sat for over a decade, became the basis for Moonlight.
3. Both McCraney and director Barry Jenkins grew up in the Liberty City area of Miami, where the film is set. Jenkins' mother also struggled with drug abuse.
4. At first, Naomie Harris, who plays the main character's drug-addicted mother, was reluctant to take on the role, because she felt it was a stereotype; but when Jenkins explained it was his mother, she agreed. "I've always said I will never play a crack addict. But the script deeply touched me. I was in conflict," recalled Harris in an interview. "Barry said, 'I don't want you to play a stereotype, but the reality is, this is my story. That's who my mother was, so what do I do?'"
5. The visual style and colours of the film were heavily influenced by cinematographer James Laxton's favourite photographers, including Earlie Hudnall Jr. and Dutch photographer Viviane Sassen, as well as Henry Roy. "[Roy's] someone who I think Barry and I were actually familiar with from our college days in this magazine that we were obsessed with called Hobo," Laxton said in an interview. "Roy was someone that I think shaped a lot of how Barry and I sort of approached the film at the very, very beginning." Laxton also used a great deal of natural and ambient light.
Read fascinating facts about the other best picture nominees here:
From Arrival to La La Land: fascinating facts about this year's best picture Oscar nominees
— Jennifer Van Evra, q digital staff