Watched the first three episodes on amazon prime last night (free to subscribers) - a ten-part adaptation of Colson Whitehead's excellent novel by Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk - both also superb). Harrowing, needless to say, and I seemed to dream the entire narrative over again throughout the night, but that's testimony to how powerful this work is.
Jenkins said in an interview that when he was a kid and heard of the underground railroad, he'd assumed it was an actual thing. Years later, when he read Whitehead's novel, he was delighted that Whitehead had realised his imaginary route. When they shot the underground scenes, he insisted on an actual tunnel rather than anything simulated by technology, and indeed the underground scenes correspond closely to the idea of the secret passage northwards evoked by the novel.
Jenkins said in an interview that when he was a kid and heard of the underground railroad, he'd assumed it was an actual thing. Years later, when he read Whitehead's novel, he was delighted that Whitehead had realised his imaginary route. When they shot the underground scenes, he insisted on an actual tunnel rather than anything simulated by technology, and indeed the underground scenes correspond closely to the idea of the secret passage northwards evoked by the novel.
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