At Essence Fest, several clips from the highly-anticipated upcoming film If Beale Street Could Talk were screened, and a director/cast panel took place.
With its release coming soon, here’s most of what we know about the film based on James Baldwin’s novel of the same name:
Directed by Barry Jenkins, it is from Annapurna and Plan B.
Last July, we learned Jenkins would direct the adaptation from Plan B, Annapurna and Jenkins’ Pastel Productions. Pastel and Plan B (who have a deal together) both have deals with Annapurna. Recent Annapurna releases include Phantom Thread and Detroit. Plan B’s upcoming slate includes the Ruth Negga-starring sci-fi epic Ad Astra and the highly-anticipated Beautiful Boy. Moonlight was also a Plan B/Pastel collab. This is their first through their pact with Annapurna.
The plot is timely.
If Beale Street Could Talk is 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 to term. 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.
The film has big expectations as Jenkins’ first post-Moonlight feature. Jenkins, who has often talked about his admiration for Baldwin’s work, wrote the screenplay back in 2013, around the same time he wrote Moonlight.
He told Esquire, “Beale Street I wrote in Berlin. Moonlight I wrote in Belgium. I wrote it without the rights because again, in some ways, it was a reaction to putting so much energy in the commercial company. No matter how much you convince yourself, that kind of work purely about making money. I said, Well, I’m going to just do exactly what I want to do. I love this book. I love this play. I’m going to write those things, and I’ll f**king figure it out after. Yeah, I mean, here it is three years later. I still don’t have the rights to the book, as I shouldn’t. Mr. Baldwin’s only been adapted once. This would only be the second time. It’s a big deal. It’s a big responsibility. But because of the success of Moonlight in the marketplace, the estate has seen the film. And I think, in that film, they can see my intentions with Beale Street, so it’s on the horizon. I don’t have the rights, but it’s on the horizon.”
The star-studded cast is led by newcomer KiKi Layne, Shots Fired star Stephan James and Emmy winner Regina King.
It was first reported that James had been cast in the film in the male lead role of Fonny, Tish’s fiance. Layne was later cast as Tish and Teyonah Parris as Tish’s sister, Ernestine. Then, Regina King was cast in a “key role,” suspected to be Tish’s mother, Sharon, and Colman Domingo was cast as Tish’s father. Michael Beach and Aujueane Ellis are Fonny’s parents, Alice and Frank. Other members of the cast are Dave Franco, Finn Wittrock, Ed Skrein, Diego Luna, Pedro Pascal and Emily Rios.
Jenkins has the blessing of Baldwin’s estate.
“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,” said Baldwin’s sister, Gloria Karefa-Smart in an earlier statement.
While an official release date has not been announced, we’d anticipate the film sometime this fall.
