Listen: Paul Thomas Anderson & Barry Jenkins Talk ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’

Happy post-Thanksgiving and we hope you’re slowly rising out of your hangovers and food comas. Today, the Director’s Cut podcast from the Director’s Guild Of America (DGA), has some must-listen fodder for you. This episode features director Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) discussing his new film, “If Beale Street Could Talk,” and his interlocutor on the podcast is none other than “Phantom Thread” filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.

The two filmmakers had never met before this conversation (though apparently talked on the phone before), but that didn’t prevent them from finding quick kinship and comradery. An adaptation of what Jenkins describes as a lesser-known James Baldwin-penned novel of the same title, Jenkins noted that ‘Beale Street’ was written during the same now-famous creative jag where “Moonlight” was born. The filmmaker took a trip to Brussels thanks to one of his producers and not knowing anyone or unable to speak the language, Jenkins holed himself in a hotel and wrote and wrote and wrote. Out of this session, only around two weeks, a first draft of “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk” was born.

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Interestingly enough, Jenkins had planned that “Moonlight” would be an exercise to get him writing and then he would turn to the full meal, the project he expected to make first: ‘Beale Street.’ Fate intervened, “Moonlight” jumped the queue and then went on to win the Best Picture prize at the Academy Awards that year.

READ MORE: ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’: Black Love In The Face Of Racist, American Obstacles [NYFF]

Incredibly intimate, “If Beale Street Could Talk” is a sumptuous film that mixes the underseen moments of African-American love with such a beautiful tenderness. The flipside, is the socio-political challenges African-American face in the United States and in this case, the racial targeting and over-policing. Here’s the official synopsis if you don’t know that much about Baldwin’s book or the movie.

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Set in early-1970s Harlem, If Beale Street Could Talk is a timeless and moving love story of both a couple’s unbreakable bond and the African-American family’s empowering embrace, as told through the eyes of 19-year-old Tish Rivers (screen newcomer KiKi Layne). A daughter and wife-to-be, Tish vividly recalls the passion, respect, and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt, who goes by the nickname Fonny (Stephan James). Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit.

The conversation with Anderson is illuminating and the “Boogie Nights” director clearly has an obvious admiration and affection for Jenkins’ films. He quizzes Jenkins about all kinds of interesting filmmaking questions including costumes, hair, sets and of course, the ‘Beale Street’ director’s close-ups on faces which he calls the best in the business. Beyond flattered Jenkins quips, “let the record show,” that PTA has called him the maker of the best close-ups in Hollywood. It’s another essential podcast from The Director’s Cut, so dive in and give it a listen.

“If Beale Street Could Talk” opens on December 14 via Annapurna Pictures.