Jenkins to adapt James Baldwin for ‘Moonlight’ follow-up

NEW YORK – Writer-director Barry Jenkins’ feature-film follow-up to his Oscar-winning “Moonlight” will be an adaptation of James Baldwin’s “If Beale Street Could Talk.”

Annapurna Pictures announced Monday that Jenkins will start shooting the film in October.

Jenkins said adapting Baldwin’s 1974 novel about love and injustice in 1970s Harlem is “a dream I’ve long held dear.” He penned the screenplay in the same 2013 summer during which he wrote “Moonlight” from Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play.

The Baldwin estate has given its blessing to the film, which follows Raoul Peck’s Oscar-nominated Baldwin documentary “I Am Not Your Negro.” ”If Beale Street Could Talk” will return much of the production team behind “Moonlight,” including producer Adele Romanski and Plan B.

Jenkins is also developing a series for Amazon based on Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad.”