Barry Jenkins's The Underground Railroad in the Works at Amazon

[brooklynite]

New York Times:

Barry Jenkins, the writer and director of “Moonlight,” named best picture at last month’s Academy Awards, is teaming again with that film’s producers for a new television series for Amazon.

“The Underground Railroad” will be an adaptation of the acclaimed Colson Whitehead novel of the same title, winner of the 2016 National Book Award for fiction. As with “Moonlight,” adapted from an original script by the playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, Mr. Jenkins will write and direct the limited series, which will be executive produced by Pastel, a company co-founded by Mr. Jenkins, and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment.

The project has been in the works for months but Amazon announced on Monday that it had signed on to develop the series.

“Preserving the sweep and grandeur of a story like this requires bold, innovative thinking,” Mr. Jenkins said in a statement. “In Amazon we’ve found a partner whose reverence for storytelling and freeness of form is wholly in line with our vision.”

Mr. Whitehead’s novel combines historical sweep with surreal details, tracking a young slave who escapes from bondage via an actual railroad. It was a best seller and was one of the most celebrated books of 2016.

[irisblue]

1. the book is excellent nt