After Moonlight picked up the Best Picture Oscar this year, many were wondering what movie director Barry Jekins would do next (he also picked up the Best Screeplay Academy Award. It’s taken him a few months to decide, but now it’s been announced he’s set to helm an adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk, according to THR.
The book is set in, ”70s Harlem and follows engaged couple Fonny and Tish. When Fonny is falsely accused of rape, Tish, who is pregnant, races to find evidence that will prove Fonny’s innocence.’ Although Jenkins has only just set it as his next movie, he has been working on the project for a long time. He wrote the screenplay in 2013 and has been collaborating with James Baldwin’s estate.
Jenkins comments, “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.”
While this will be his next film project, he’s also headed to TV, or at least episodic online streaming, as he’s set to direct an Amazon mini-series based on Colson Whitehead’s novel The Underground Railroad.
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