Barry Jenkins Archives - Big Gay Picture Show

Moonlight Director Barry Jenkins Reveals The Oscars Speech He Never Gave

March 13, 2018 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Last year the Oscars suffered just about the biggest mix-up it was even possible for it to suffer when the wrong Best Picture winner was read out. The result was that when it was finally revealed that the gay-themed Moonlight was the real winner, in the confusion the makers of the movie didn’t get to give the speeches they’d planned and say what they wanted to.

The Academy gave director Barry Jenkins and the film’s producers the chance to receive their Best Picture award properly at this year’s ceremony, they declined as it couldn’t recapture the moment they had lost. However, at SXSW Jenkins has revealed what he would have said.

He starts with a shout-out to Tarell McCraney, whose wrote the play the movie was based on. Here’s the speech, as reprinted by Deadline, “Tarell and I are Chiron. We are that boy. And when you watch Moonlight, you don’t assume a boy who grew up how and where we did would grow up and make a piece of art that wins an Academy Award — certainly don’t think he would grow up to win Best Picture. I’ve said that a lot and what I’ve had to admit is that I placed those limitations on myself. I denied myself that dream — not you, not anyone else — me. And so, to anyone watching this who sees themselves in us, let this be a symbol, a reflection that leads you to love yourself. Because doing so may be the difference between dreaming at all and somehow, through the Academy’s grace, realizing dreams you never allowed yourself to have.”

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DIRECTORS: Barry Jenkins FILMS: Moonlight

Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins Sets Next Film As An Adaptation Of If Beale Street Could Talk

July 10, 2017 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

After Moonlight picked up the Best Picture Oscar this year, many were wondering what movie director Barry Jekins would do next (he also picked up the Best Screeplay Academy Award. It’s taken him a few months to decide, but now it’s been announced he’s set to helm an adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk, according to THR.

The book is set in, ”70s Harlem and follows engaged couple Fonny and Tish. When Fonny is falsely accused of rape, Tish, who is pregnant, races to find evidence that will prove Fonny’s innocence.’ Although Jenkins has only just set it as his next movie, he has been working on the project for a long time. He wrote the screenplay in 2013 and has been collaborating with James Baldwin’s estate.

Jenkins comments, “To translate the power of Tish and Fonny’s love to the screen in Baldwin’s image is a dream I’ve long held dear. Working alongside the Baldwin Estate, I’m excited to finally make that dream come true.”

While this will be his next film project, he’s also headed to TV, or at least episodic online streaming, as he’s set to direct an Amazon mini-series based on Colson Whitehead’s novel The Underground Railroad.

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DIRECTORS: Barry Jenkins

Moonlight Takes The Best Picture Oscar, While La La Land Picks Up Six Awards

February 27, 2017 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Well, writers have something new to include when it comes to Oscars biggest gaffes and bloopers – and this one will probably top the list for a very long time. Faye Dunaway read out that La La Land had won the Best Picture Oscar, the producers came up to the stage, and then, partway through the acceptance speeches, they were interrupted to be told, actually no, it was Moonlight that was the big winner.

The mistake came about due to Dunaway and Warren Beatty being handed the wrong envelope, which read ‘Emma Stone – La La Land’. It was presumably was a duplicate of the Best Actress envelope, as Stone did win for that one. Despite a pause and Stone’s name being there, Dunaway decided to read it anyway.

After the mix-up, surprise winner Moonlight went off to gets its Best Picture gong. It’s impressive for a movie few had heard of before its release, and is about the sort of character – young, black, poor and gay – that the Academy Awards usually give short shrift to. However, perhaps thanks to the Academy’s diversity drive this year, where they set out to invite people from groups traditionally under-represented in the Oscar voting pool to become members, it has triumphed. Some has also suggested it perhaps partially redresses the balance after the gay-themed Brokeback Mountain lost out on the Best Picture to the now half-forgotten Crash, despite winning Best Director for Ang Lee. Moonlight now becomes the first gay-themed movie to win the Academy’s biggest prize.

Moonlight also picked up Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali and Best Adapted Screenplay for Barry Jenkins. Ali’s win also marked the first time a Muslim has taken an acting Oscar.

While La La Land had the Best Picture Oscar taken from its hands – literally – which probably tarnished the evening for them, the movie did win more awards than any other film, six in total. That includes Damien Chazelle, who becomes the youngest ever Best Director winner at the age of only 32.

Alongside Stone for Best Actress and Ali for Best Supporting Actor, the other performance gongs went to Casey Affleck who got Best Actor for Manchester By The Sea, and Viola Davis who picked up Best Supporting Actress for Fences. Davis’ win also puts her in the exclusive club of those who’ve won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony award.

You can take a look at a full list of winners below. [Read more…]

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ACTORS: Casey Affleck, Emma Stone, Mahershala Ali, Viola Davis DIRECTORS: Barry Jenkins, Damien Chazelle FILMS: La La Land, Moonlight

Moonlight & Other Gay-Themed Movies Are The Big Winners At The Independent Spirit Awards

February 26, 2017 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Each year the day before the Oscars, the Independent Spirit Awards are held, which were set up as the equivalent of the Hollywood-centric Academy Awards but for movies made outside the mainstream. This year the big winner was Moonlight, which picked up five gongs.

The film, about three stages in the life of a young gay man, picked up Best Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay for Barry Jenkins, Best Cinematography for James Laxton and the Robert Altman Award for Best Ensemble. It’s an impressive result for the movie, which is also hoping to win some awards at the Oscars. While most expect La La Land to be the big winner at the Academy Awards, many hope Moonlight will at least be able to at least pick up a couple Oscars, and some think it has a decent chance of providing an upset and winning Best Film.

Moonlight wasn’t the only gay-themed film that triumphed at the Independent Spirit Awards. Molly Shannon won Best Supporting Actress for playing the dying mother of a gay son in the dramedy Other People. There was also Andrew Ahn’s Spa Night, about a Korean-American teenager who finds an underground world of gay sex in a Korean spa, which took home the John Cassavetes Awards for Best Feature Made For Under $5,000.

It was certainly a gay-heavy evening! The Oscars only have Moonlight representing gay-themed cinema, so we’ll have to cross our fingers that it manages to win a few awards there too. Take a look at the full list of Independent Spirit Award winners and some highlights below. [Read more…]

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ACTORS: Molly Shannon DIRECTORS: Barry Jenkins FILMS: Moonlight, Other People, Spa Night

Moonlight (Cinema Review) – The gay-themed multi-Oscar nominee finally reaches the UK

February 16, 2017 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Trevante Rhodes
Director: Barry Jenkins
Running Time: 111 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: February 17th 2017 (UK)

Oftentimes it’s not too far into the year when you can see which movies are likely to be lining up for the Oscar race. However, Moonlight seemingly came out of nowhere, became far more successful at the US box office than most expected (setting records along the way) and immediately had people suggesting it ought to be up for loads of awards. Even so, many wondered whether it would miss out, simply because it was a small film released by a US distributor that doesn’t have the money for the sort of massive Oscar campaign a studio can mount.

Thankfully it defied the odds, scoring eight Oscar nominations. It’s taken a while, but now the movie is arriving in the UK, and it’s been worth the wait. [Read more…]

Moonlight Leads Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association Dorian Award Winners

January 26, 2017 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association Dorian Award winners have been announced, and not too surprisingly, a lot of love has gone to Moonlight. The melancholy gay-themed drama, adapted from Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play about three phases of a man’s life, won five Dorians, including Film of the Year, LGBTQ Film of the Year, Director and Screenplay for Barry Jenkins and Best Film Actor for Mahershala Ali. Trevante Rhodes, who was nominated for Actor alongside Ali, was given the ‘We’re Wilde About You!’ Rising Star Award (named for the group’s patron saint, Oscar Wilde).

The Oscar frontrunner, La La Land, wasn’t completely left out though, winning Visually Striking Film of the Year. Viola Davis, who recently named by GALECA as one of the 10 Best Actress of All Time, earned Best Film Actress Fences. Movies that also scored wins include Christine, the devastating docudrama starring Rebecca Hall as ill-fated ‘70s newswoman Christine Chubbuck; the lesbian-tinged spectacle The Handmaiden; and the Kate Winslet romp The Dressmaker (for Campy Flick of the Year).

In the TV categories, The People v. O.J. Simpson won GALECA’s Drama of the Year, while one of its stars, Sarah Paulson, took TV Actress honors for her turn as prosecutor Marcia Clark. For the third year in a row, Amazon’s Transparent won TV Comedy of the Year, LGBTQ Comedy and TV actor for Jeffrey Tambor.

In a year rampant with voices demanding to be heard, former The Daily Show cast member Samantha Bee’s new TBS hit Full Frontal, a satirical and/or pointed take on current affairs, cut through the static and merited a Dorian Award. GALECA members also saw fit to reward Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the increasingly relevant Broadway hit Hamilton, as well as Saturday Night Live star/political satirist Kate McKinnon (twice). The late Carrie Fisher was posthumously named Wilde Wit of the Year .

Then there’s John Waters, who was recently announced as this year’s GALECA Timeless Star, who offered this statement: “A ‘Timeless Star’? Wow! Does that mean good-old or crazy-new? Either way, I’m thrilled and honored to be called a star no matter which side of the camera I choose to be on.” The creator of Hairspray, Serial Mom, Polyester and Pink Flamingos, joins past honorees Jane Fonda, Sir Ian McKellen, George Takei, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Cloris Leachman.

GALECA is comprised of over 170 film/TV critics and entertainment journalists from across the US, Canada and the UK, and exists to bolster LGBTQ entertainment journalists as well as remind the world, and our at-risk youth, that ‘the gays’ have a distinct cultural history of helping put great movies and TV shows on everyone’s radar.

Take a look at the full list of Dorian Award winners below: [Read more…]

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ACTORS: Jeffrey Tambor, Mahershala Ali, Sarah Paulson, Trevante Rhodes, Viola Davis DIRECTORS: Barry Jenkins FILMS: La La Land, Moonlight, Transparent

Moonlight Leads Independent Spirit Award Noms, With Plenty More Gay-Themed Films In The Mix Too

November 23, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

It’s certainly been a good year for gay-themed films amongst the nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards, the pre-eminent indie awards ceremony (films are only eligible if they have a budget of less and $20 million), which takes place ahead of the Oscars each year. Leading the way is the acclaimed Moonlight, Barry Jenkins’ film about a young, gay African-American, which picked up six noms, equal with the Shia LaBeouf starrer, American Honey.

It’s up for Best Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and is the sole nominee for the Robert Altman Award for Best Ensemble.

Also gettin multiple nods was Other People, starring Jesse Plemons as a gay guy who heads home to take care of his dying mother. It picked up four nominations for Plemons, co-star Molly Shannon, Chris Kelly for his screenplay and director Chris Kelly for Best First Feature.

However, Moonlight and Other People weren’t only the gay-themed films up for awards, with Spa Night (about a closeted Korean-American teenager) director Andrew Ahn up for the John Cassavettes Award (for Best Feature Made For Under $5,000) and Kiehl’s Someone to Watch Award. Lesbian crime drama Women Who Kill, was also nominated for the Kiehl’s Award, for director Ingrid Jungermann, while Certain Women was nominated for Best Director for Kelly Reichardt, while Lily Gladstone, whose character falls for Kristen Stewart in the movie, is up for Best Supporting Female.

There were also a couple of gay-themed documentaries in the mix, with ball-culture doc Kiki up for the Truer Than Fiction Award, while I Am Not Your Negro, about gay, African-American writer James Baldwin’s unfinished novel, Remember This House, is included in the Best Docuemntary category.

It’s certainly an impressive validation for LGBT-themed movies this year, with the hope that at least some of them will go on to be winners when the gongs are handed out early next year. Take a look at the full list of nominees below. [Read more…]

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ACTORS: Jesse Plemons, Molly Shannon, Lily Gladstone DIRECTORS: Kelly Reichardt, Andrew Ahn, Chris Kelly, Barry Jenkins FILMS: Moonlight, Other People, Certain Woman, Spa Night

Gay-Themed Moonlight Scores Highest Per-Screen Average Of 2016

October 24, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

While Moonlight has been getting exceptional reviews, it looks like a lot of people have been underestimating its box office potential – probably because they presumed its gay and African-American themes would limit its appeal (which is also probably why it wasn’t picked up by a major distributor). However, it’s surprised many by scoring an exceptional $103,675 per screen average on its first weekend of release in the US.

It was only playing on four screens (two in LA and two in New York), but even so it joins an elite list of only 25 other movies to average more than $100,000 per location in its first weekend. In comparison, Boo! A Madea Halloween, the weekend’s top movie, only took around $12,600 per theatre.

It certainly bodes well for the movie, which many have said ought to be a major awards contender, but many had written it off because they assumed it wouldn’t be seen widely enough, and also because its distributor, A24, doesn’t have the enormous budget needed for a massive Oscar campaign. However, if it can continue its success as a sleeper hit and get more people talking, it may well have a decent shot at some nominations.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘MOONLIGHT is the tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality. Anchored by astonishing performances and the singular vision of filmmaker Barry Jenkins, MOONLIGHT is a groundbreaking exploration of masculinity-a sensual, intoxicating piece of cinema that uncovers deep truths about the moments that define us, the people who shape us most, and the ache of love that can last a lifetime.’

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DIRECTORS: Barry Jenkins FILMS: Moonlight

Moonlight Trailer – Growing up black and gay in 1980s America

August 12, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Moonlight is one of the movies anticipated indie movies of the year, with some suggesting it has potential to be an awards contender. It’s already set to get a pretty prestigious debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in a couple of months time.

The cast includes Naomie Harris (Spectre), André Holland (The Knick), Mahershala Ali (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Edson Jean (War Dogs), and soul/R&B singer Janelle Monaé. The fact it’s split into three chapters is reflected in the great new artwork above. Moonlight is expected to get an awards friendly release in the US towards the end of the year. [Read more…]

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DIRECTORS: Barry Jenkins FILMS: Moonlight