If Beale Street Could Talk will be Barry Jenkins’ follow up to Moonlight

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Barry Jenkins' MOONLIGHT received eight nominations at the 89th Academy Awards and walked away with three wins, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture, although LA LA LAND did briefly call that last award their own due to an unfortunate envelope mix-up. Needless to say, we've all been anxiously awaiting which project Barry Jenkins would choose as his follow up to MOONLIGHT.

Barry Jenkins is now set to direct an adaptation of James Baldwin's "If Beale Street Could Talk" for Annapurna and production on the film is expected to get underway in October. The film will tell the story of 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." In addition to directing IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, Jenkins will also pen the screenplay. In fact, he actually wrote the script several years ago, around the same time he penned MOONLIGHT. Since that time he's worked toward gaining the approval of James Baldwin's estate. Gloria Karefa-Smart, Baldwin's sister, said, "We are delighted to entrust Barry Jenkins with this adaptation. Barry is a sublimely conscious and gifted filmmaker, whose Medicine for Melancholy impressed us so greatly that we had to work with him."

In a statement, Barry Jenkins added

James Baldwin is a man of and ahead of his time; his interrogations of the American consciousness have remained relevant to this day. 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.

With production on IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK to get underway this fall, we'll likely see the film hit theaters sometime in 2018.