Variety has brought word that Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins, best known for his 2016 acclaimed coming-of-age drama Moonlight, has signed on to direct the upcoming biopic of iconic choreographer Alvin Ailey for Fox Searchlight.
The producers and Fox Searchlight will team with the dance company’s artistic director Robert Battle and artistic director emerita Judith Jamison.
The 39-year-old writer/director is currently working on a miniseries adaptation of the Civil War-set novel The Underground Railroad.
First announced last March with the support of the Ailey Organization, the film will be written by Julian Breece and based on both Ailey’s life and Jennifer Dunning’s biography “Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance.”