The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘Moonlight’ editors talk Oscar night, Atlanta ties
Remember the crazy ending of this year’s Oscars? Imagine being right there in the middle of it.
Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders, editors of the Academy Award-winning film “Moonlight,” were sitting near their counterparts from “La La Land,” and understandably felt a little let down when it seemed like their neighbors had triumphed in the final—and most revered— category of the evening.
“When we thought they won, I looked at Joi and it was like, ‘Yeah,’” Sanders recalled. “We had no expectations. Then we saw all this commotion going on in the wings.”
As we know now, an envelope mix-up resulted in the wrong film being named best picture. Indeed, “Moonlight” had won.
“Have you ever had a dream and something clues you into that you’re in a dream?” McMillon said, trying to find the words to describe how surreal the moment felt. “I remember going to the stage and hugging Janelle (Monae) and hugging Barry ( Jenkins). I needed to keep hugging people because I could feel them it made it real.”
“It was a little like floating,” Sanders said.
McMillon and Sanders were in town recently for an event during the Atlanta Film Festival hosted by Florida State University’s College of Motion Picture Arts. Accompanying them was interim college dean Reb Braddock; his predecessor Frank Patterson is now president of Pinewood Atlanta Studios.
It was during their time at Florida State that McMillon and Sanders met Jenkins, “Moonlight’s” director. Other Seminoles working on the movie included cinematographer James Laxton, producer Adele Romanski and actor André Holland. We joked that FSU should stand for “Film School University.”
“One of the things I really loved about Florida State is it’s so small, you’re forced to work with every individual in your class,” McMillon said. “There’s an accountability you have. We’d be working nights and one of my roommates asked me, ‘Are you getting paid to do this?’ I said, ‘No I’m paying them!’”
The experience, of course, was priceless.
“I’ve known Nat and Barry for 15, 16 years, since we all went to film school together. I knew whatever Barry did next I wanted to work on it,” McMillon said. “I knew the next thing Barry was going to do was going to be something special.”
Was it ever. With a budget of $1.5 million, “Moonlight” has the lowest price tag of any best picture-winning movie in Oscars history—and cost less than a 30-second commercial airing during the Academy Awards, IndieWire.com drolly observed.
Yet it earned not only the top trophy on Oscars night, but Mahershala Ali won for best supporting actor, and Jenkins won for best adapted screenplay.
“Moonlight” follows central character Chiron from childhood to manhood, and the film consists of three discrete segments focusing on different points in Chiron’s life. Jenkins deliberately did not have Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes—the three actors playing the character—work together in order to discourage one performance from influencing another. Yet stitching it all together seamlessly was less of a challenge than it would seem, thanks to strong talent at every stage.
“The performances we got from the actors were so genuine and so authentic,” McMillon said. “It enabled us to create a film that was consistent. Everyone that was involved in ‘Moonlight’—I feel like they are very special, extraordinary individuals.”