underground

As John  Cooper and Robert Redford confirmed on opening day, diversity remains a founding principle here at Sundance. The festival is committed to showcasing the widest possible variety of voices.

John Legend won a well-deserved Best Song Golden Globe two years ago for Glory, his collaboration with Common for Ava DuVernay’s Selma. The musician, songwriter and actor has since taken a more active creative role in Hollywood forming his own production company, Get Lifted Film Company, whose first big project, Underground, is currently airing on WGN.

“I’m the executive producer and writer on Underground. I’ve been mistaken for a PA”, notes Misha Green who has written for such testosterone-drenched shows as FX’s Sons of Anarchy and NBC’s Heroes.

Underground cleverly uses costume to highlight the deconstruction of an individual through ownership and how identity surfaces even in the most dire constraints. Costume designer Karyn Wagner led an incredible crew in the creation of a palette of power and powerless: for instance, the plum throughout connotes the Mistress’s choice to clothe her slaves in a color that matches the decor of her house.