“Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins has lined up his next project, a female-led love story. A press release has announced that he’ll write and direct an adaptation of James Baldwin’s 1974 novel “If Beale Street Could Talk” with Annapurna, PASTEL, and Plan B, the latter of which he worked with on Best Picture winner “Moonlight.”
Scheduled to begin production this October, “If Beale Street Could Talk” follows 19-year-old Tish, a recently engaged and pregnant Harlem-based woman who is forced to race “against the clock to prove her lover’s innocence” when he’s falsely accused of rape. The release describes the projectm which is set in the ’70s, as “a celebration of love told through the story of a young couple, their families, and their lives, trying to bring about justice through love, for love and the promise of the American dream.” No word on who will play Tish or other casting.
“James Baldwin is a man of and ahead of his time; his interrogations of the American consciousness have remained relevant to this day,” said Jenkins. “To translate the power of Tish and Fonny’s love to the screen in Baldwin’s image is a dream I’ve long held dear. Working alongside the Baldwin Estate, I’m excited to finally make that dream come true.”
“We are delighted to entrust Barry Jenkins with this adaptation,” commented Gloria Karefa-Smart, Baldwin’s sister. “Barry is a sublimely conscious and gifted filmmaker, whose ‘Medicine for Melancholy’ impressed us so greatly that we had to work with him.”
Jenkins won an Oscar earlier this year for co-writing “Moonlight,” a drama that chronicles the life of a Miami-based gay man from childhood to adulthood. He also earned a nod for directing the pic, which grossed over $65 million worldwide on a budget of $1.5 million.
