The young boy looked sharp, decked out in an orange-brown suit. His warm smile gave no hint of the hard times he faced in Miami’s rough Liberty City neighborhood. “That kid looks quite chill,” said Barry Jenkins of the picture of his younger self he has saved on his phone.
“I’m about 6 years old, and it had to be Easter. It was difficult growing up in the circumstances I did. But in that picture, I look happy, and I look good! That young boy is unaware of the things he is going through or will go through.
” He certainly had no idea when that photo was taken what the future held — that co-writing and directing a low-budget coming-of-age drama would change his life. “Moonlight” won the 2017 Oscar for best picture and earned Jenkins a nomination for best director and an adapted screenplay Oscar (with Tarell Alvin McCraney), establishing him as one of the most visionary filmmakers of his generation. Flash-forward eight years, and that picture takes on even deeper meaning for the filmmaker, who is involved in two major studio movies opening within days of each other next month — projects that have nothing in common but their high profile.
“That little boy never would have imagined he would be in this position,” declared Jenkins, shaking his head. Winter is coming. And it belongs to Barry Jenkins.
Premiering Dec. 20 is Jenkins’ latest directorial effort, Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King,” the highly anticipated, photorealistic follow-up to the 2019 blo.