Director Barry Jenkins is about to unveil his latest project, a landmark new limited series for Amazon Prime Video based on the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. And he’s bringing along his Oscar-nominated composer, Nicholas Britell, for the journey, the pair having previously collaborated to acclaim on Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk. As Britell reveals in the new issue of Empire (on sale now), the series is as ambitious musically as it is dramatically.
“I don’t want to give anything away,” Britell tells Empire, “but there are many worlds on this journey. Each of these episodes is like its own film from a musical perspective.”
The composer came up with “completely different musical concepts” for each of the ten episodes, bringing a marked difference in terms of its scope. He also worked 18 months on the show —moving briefly from New York to Los Angles, during the middle of the pandemic. “I think Barry lived ten minutes away from us,” Britell says. “The nature of our process remained the same. There was so much do to do, we actually had to be together that way.”
The ten-episode limited series follows Cora Randall (Thuso Mbedu) on her quest for freedom after escaping a Georgia plantation, while being by bounty hunter Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton). In both the book and series, the rumoured Underground Railroad is not a metaphor, but an actual railroad comprised of a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil.
For Britell, it’s the continuation of what he calls a “truly profound artistic experience” working with the Oscar-winning Jenkins. “There is a fluidity to our work. I think we have such a sense of each other’s instincts now in a way.”
To read the full interview with Britell, pick up the latest issue of Empire, on sale now. The Underground Railroad debuts on Amazon Prime Video from 14 May.