Latest in James Laxton

As he set out to shoot The Underground Railroad, cinematographer James Laxton felt "an incredible amount of pressure." His latest project with longtime collaborator Barry Jenkins was their first TV series, and he felt a sense of responsibility to do justice to the "fantastic" source material on which it was based. "I…

Between Barry Jenkins' two latest features—the Oscar-winning Moonlight, and 2019 contender If Beale Street Could Talk—cinematographer James Laxton has taken two big swings, adapting pre-existing written material for the screen. In the case of the former film, the material at hand was a play, Tarell Alvin McCraney's In…

Two years ago, Barry Jenkins joined me on a panel at Deadline’s sixth annual The Contenders Los Angeles awards-season event to talk about a then little-known film called Moonlight. It would go on to famously win the Best Picture Oscar, along with a screenplay Academy Award for Jenkins himself. Now, two years later, he…

At Deadline’s The Contenders Los Angeles today, Annapurna Pictures showed off two dramas from their impressive awards-season slate, and a unifying concern emerged: The American Dream, and the ways it has changed over time. While members of the privileged class have bent it into a new, baser shape, for those less…

Working with director Barry Jenkins over more than a decade since they first met, as Florida State University students, cinematographer James Laxton has attracted due notice this season for his work in Jenkins’ Moonlight, the director’s first feature since 2008’s Medicine for Melancholy. As with editor Nat…