He won an Oscar for ‘Moonlight.’ The Liberty City native is now up for ‘Beale Street.’
Oscar continues to cast its glow on Miami Northwestern Senior High grad Barry Jenkins — even if its radiance isn’t quite as bright as it was two years ago when he saw his made-in-Miami film “Moonlight” win three Academy awards, including best picture.
The Liberty City-born director won an adapted screenwriting award in 2017 from the Academy for “Moonlight,” which he filmed in the Liberty City neighborhood where he was raised. The 2016 film also won best picture and earned Jenkins a directing nomination.
Jenkins, 39, could win another screenwriting Oscar as he is once again nominated in the adapted screenplay category for his work in bringing James Baldwin’s 1974 novel, “If Beale Street Could Talk,” to the big screen.
Nominations for the 91st annual Academy Awards were announced Tuesday. Jenkins’ film also scored a best supporting actress nomination for Regina King and for Nicholas Britell’s score. Britell was also nominated for scoring “Moonlight.”
Coconut Grove’s Phil Lord, 43, a Ransom Everglades and Dartmouth gradate, is another nominee — and a strong favorite to win — for co-writing and co-producing the best animated feature nominee, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” The film has already won honors from the Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards.
But Jenkins wasn’t a repeat best director nominee. He was overlooked among this year’s nominees — as was first-time director, actor Bradley Cooper, who was expected to be a strong contender in the category for his work on “A Star Is Born,” the fourth version of the oft-told Hollywood story.
“Beale Street,” set in early-1970s Harlem, was also snubbed in the best picture field, which includes “Black Panther,” the first comic book superhero movie to make it into the coveted category, and the Queen biopic, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which triumphed over mixed reviews and the firing of its director, Bryan Singer, but became a rousing favorite with audiences.
Jenkins’ nomination for adapting Baldwin’s book had to come as a bit of a surprise for the director. He hadn’t read the book, despite being a fan of the author, until a pal told him he ought to adapt it for the screen, Entertainment Weekly reported.
Jenkins quickly fell in love with Baldwin’s “lush” writing voice in “Beale Street” and told EW he wanted to ensure Baldwin’s “voice” came through his script.
“Mr. Baldwin was a very provocative writer and I wanted his voice to be a large part of the movie, so I used the lavish nature of his language as an inspiration when trying to visually translate the words as images,” Jenkins said.
After graduating from Northwestern Senior, where he played football, Jenkins graduated from Florida State University’s film school in 2003.
Jenkins is based in Los Angeles, but making “Moonlight” in Liberty City rekindled his love for his hometown, he told the Miami Herald in 2016.
“Maybe if I had seen somebody walking around a movie set like this in my neighborhood when I was a kid, I would have gotten to filmmaking a lot sooner.”
As for Lord, he, along with filmmaking partner Christopher Miller, is thrilled the innovative “Spider-Verse” has met with such a rapturous response from audiences and within the industry.
“It is amazing to see how this movie has really inspired people to spread the word,” Lord told Deadline Hollywood. “One of our directors, Rodney Rothman, calls it the ‘first word-of-mouth’ Spider-Man film and he’s totally right.”
Here are some of the major category nominations for the 91st Academy Awards. The Oscars will be broadcast live on ABC on Feb. 24. “Roma” and “The Favourite” lead with 10 nominations apiece.
Best Picture (award goes to the producer)
“Black Panther” (Kevin Feige).
“BlacKkKlansman” (Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee).
“Bohemian Rhapsody” (Graham King).
“The Favourite” (Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos Lanthimos).
“Green Book” (Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga).
“Roma” (Gabriela Rodriguez and Alfonso Cuarón).
“A Star Is Born” (Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor).
“Vice” (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay and Kevin Messick).
Director
Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma.”
Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Favourite.”
Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman.”
Adam McKay, “Vice.”
Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War.”
Actress
Yalitza Aparicio, “Roma.”
Glenn Close, “The Wife.”
Olivia Colman, “The Favourite.”
Lady Gaga, “A Star Is Born.”
Melissa McCarthy, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Actor
Christian Bale, “Vice.”
Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born.”
Willem Dafoe, “At Eternity’s Gate.”
Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book.”
Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, “Vice.”
Marina de Tavira, “Roma.”
Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk.”
Emma Stone, “The Favourite.”
Rachel Weisz, “The Favourite.”
Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, “Green Book.”
Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman.”
Sam Elliott, “A Star Is Born.”
Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Sam Rockwell, “Vice.”
For a full list visit, https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2019.
This story was originally published January 22, 2019 at 6:09 PM.
