‘Moonlight’ Director Barry Jenkins To Helm ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’

The Best Picture win for Barry Jenkins‘ “Moonlight” certainly put him on the map, but he’s been canny about rushing too fast into what must’ve been countless offers landing on his desk. The only projects we’ve known to be percolating is a TV series adaptation of Colson Whitehead‘s “The Underground Railroad” which is now at Amazon, and a biopic on boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields. However, for his next movie, Jenkins is moving onto something he wrote during the same summer he penned “Moonlight.”

READ MORE: Watch ‘Moonlight’ Oscar Winner Barry Jenkins’ Student Short Film ‘My Josephine’

Cameras will start rolling in October on “If Beale Street Could Talk,” an adaptation of James Baldwin‘s terrific novel. The story follows Tish, a newly engaged Harlem woman who races against the clock to prove her lover’s innocence while carrying their first born child. It is 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.

It’s wonderful material, and Jenkins has the support of the Baldwin Estate, and will be backed by Annapurna, while reteaming with the “Moonlight” duo of Plan B and Pastel. Essentially, Jenkins has a great executive team around him, and he’ll likely also attract a great creative team for this one too. Put this one on your calendars for Oscars 2019.