James Baldwin movie gets 2 remarkable, acclaimed writers
Onstage at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct. 1, Anonymous Content CEO Darren Walker revealed that the company is developing a James Baldwin movie with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground. The film will adapt Nicholas Boggs’ biography “Baldwin: A Love Story,” Deadline reported.
Anonymous Content has optioned the book and hired Boggs to write the script with his partner, novelist Marlon James, a Man Booker Prize winner. Walker shared the news alongside Laurene Powell Jobs, whose Emerson Collective is Anonymous Content’s majority owner.
Inside ‘Baldwin: A Love Story’
Boggs’ book is billed as the first major Baldwin biography in 30 years. Rather than marching through the author’s career, it uses previously unseen archival material, fresh research and interviews to show how a handful of close bonds shaped Baldwin’s life and writing.
Four figures anchor the story: painter Beauford Delaney, who mentored Baldwin; Swiss painter Lucien Happersberger, his lover and muse; Turkish actor Engin Cezzar, a longtime collaborator; and French artist Yoran Cazac. According to Deadline, the book is the first to fully examine Cazac’s place as Baldwin’s last great love.
That focus on Baldwin’s private life sets the project apart from earlier screen work built on his writing. Baldwin, who died in 1987 at 63, wrote “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” “Giovanni’s Room” and “The Fire Next Time.” Barry Jenkins adapted his novel “If Beale Street Could Talk” in 2018, and Raoul Peck’s 2016 documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” drew on an unfinished Baldwin manuscript. A scripted James Baldwin movie centered on the people he loved would cover different ground.
No director, cast, budget or production schedule has been announced.
Who is producing the James Baldwin movie
Walker and David Levine will produce the James Baldwin movie for Anonymous Content, with Anikah McLaren producing for Higher Ground. Howard Gertler is also a producer, and Boggs and James will serve as executive producers, per Deadline.
Levine runs television and content at Anonymous Content, which co-produced Zoe Kazan’s upcoming Netflix series “East of Eden,” one of the big Netflix titles we’re tracking this fall. The company’s past credits include “True Detective,” “Mr. Robot” and “13 Reasons Why,” The Hollywood Reporter noted.
Anonymous Content wants to pay for its own films
The Baldwin project is an early test of a bigger shift. Walker, the former Ford Foundation president who oversaw its $17 billion endowment and took over as CEO in January, said Anonymous Content wants to stop working mainly as a “fee-for-hire” producer that has to shop scripts to outside backers.
“Now Emerson has made it possible for us to become a financier in the market, so we’ll be able to co-finance, finance, take the lead in financing a film,” Walker said, as quoted by Deadline. Emerson Collective made what THR called a “material investment” in the company in January, and Walker said he’s committed to at least eight films over the next year. The company also plans to branch into live events, including Broadway, THR reported.
Powell Jobs framed the strategy as a bet on quality first. “It’s necessary because fee-for-service is a bad way to build a company,” she said, according to THR. When the priority is excellence “and then making money is number two, then you actually end up making films that people really want to see,” she added. Pressed on whether that means there’s no rush for a return, she agreed but said “the company has to be self-sustaining.”
She and former HBO chief Richard Plepler are also joining Anonymous Content’s reshaped board. We’ll have updates as the James Baldwin movie adds a director and cast; for more literary adaptations, follow our movies coverage.