Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk) is exceptionally good at making movies. And the writer-director has found his next movie to make.
Deadline reported Monday that Jenkins will be directing for Fox Searchlight an untitled film about the late Alvin Ailey, one of the 20th century’s most influential and talented dance choreographers. Julian Breece (When They See Us) wrote the script.
The now Disney-owned Fox Searchlight made a deal in 2018 with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater last year. In doing so, the studio acquired the full cooperation from the organization and the rights to both Ailey’s signature choreography and the biography about him — “Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance” by Jennifer Dunning. Jenkins celebrated the news on Twitter:
Beyond proud and humbled to have the opportunity to bring Brother Ailey's life to the screen alongside @julianbreece and my partners at @WePastel, @foxsearchlight and the wonderful folks of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater ??♥️ — https://t.co/idgEjwlZen via @Deadline
— Barry Jenkins (@BarryJenkins) June 3, 2019
Jenkins’ last film, 2018’s Beale Street, was an impressive, powerful, and sadly underseen achievement; it would earn him a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination. He won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Moonlight, which also went on to win Best Picture that year after the infamous error where it was first announced that La La Land incorrectly won the Academy’s highest honor.
A new Barry Jenkins movie is a gift, and we can’t wait to see what the filmmaker has in store for us next.
