Unless you’ve been in deep hibernation the past few weeks, you’ve likely already heard that “Moonlight” is a marvel that has won over the nation’s critics and is already illuminating theaters in limited release like no other picture so far this year. It’s been buzzed about since it premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in September, but Mahershala Ali, who plays Juan in the film, knew Barry Jenkins’ drama would deserve attention as he traveled up and down the eastern seaboard shooting three other projects at the same time.
“I was working seven days a week for about six weeks,” Ali says, “ ‘Moonlight’ I would say I knew was special, and I would tell people it was special.”
Ali, who is getting significant Best Supporting Actor attention for his performance, shot the A24 and Plan B production over three weekends because his scenes primarily included Alex Hibbert who portrayed young Chiron also known as “Little.” At the same time he was also shooting “House of Cards” in Baltimore and the first season of “Luke Cage” and the film “Future Relic” in New York. He bluntly admits he was working around the clock.
“[Alex] was in every scene of the first act, so my days were broken up. I would fly in town like a Friday night, and then work Saturday, Sunday, fly out Sunday night, be working on ‘Luke Cage’ Monday, and then maybe catch a train and go to Baltimore to go work on ‘House of Cards,’” Ali recalls. “Then come back and go work on ‘Future Relic’ in Jersey, and then be flying back to Miami that next weekend to go work on ‘Moonlight’ again.”
Juan is a Miami drug dealer who breaks all your preconceived stereotypes of what a drug dealer in America is. He doesn’t live in a crack den surrounded by prostitutes or in a gaudy South Beach mansion flaunting his wealth. Instead, he lives in a modest home in a safe neighborhood with his wife (Janelle Monae) and tries his best to be a father figure for a boy whose mother (Naomie Harris) has become increasingly addicted to the drugs he’s distributing. Ali says the character resonated with him so much that even though the schedule was difficult he couldn’t wait to return to Miami to continue.
“There was something that I felt very healthy about playing that character, and [‘Luke Cage’s] Cottonmouth felt very toxic,” Ali says. “I almost kind of needed Juan to balance out that energy because of how I would spend my day, and you’re doing crazy things, and shooting people in the head because you’re having these heightened emotional reactions like throwing someone off the roof. To do that for 16 hours a day, and I’m appreciative for the job, I don’t mean it in any negative way, but I just mean as an actor. Like, if you’re embodying that as an experience it felt toxic when Juan felt like he was in the right place, drug dealer aside, there was something about his spirit that felt really healthy, and I wanted to know more about him, and spend more time in that space.”
The 42-year-old actor (who could easily pass for 15 years younger) says he had a “spark” portraying Juan and “sometimes I know I’m in love and I was in love. I was in love with this part.”
“I think Barry loved us as actors, and we were all in love as collaborators,” Ali says. “It really is a project that the foundation of this project was love because nobody was there for the money. I mean, nobody was there. There’s no money to be made in this. It’s just not happening like that. This is like, we are there to create an art piece, an offering to share with folks.”
Ali continues, “Look, I’m so proud of ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Luke Cage’ and that’s what pays for these kinds of projects. This you’re just doing it because you love to do it and you love the story. I didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity to be a part of this project. I knew this was great from the first or second page. I thought, ‘This is amazing.’ Yeah, I knew I was in love. You couldn’t not feel it.”
“Moonlight” is now playing in New York and Los Angeles. It expands to Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. on Friday.