52 EW.COM MARCH 10, 2017Photograph by Art StreiberBEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAYOSCARS
2017
Moonlightwriter-director Barry
Jenkins spent the morning before
the Oscars at the laundromat. The
day after that unforgettable night,
when he won Best Adapted
Screenplay and his little indie
nabbed Best Picture, he’s relaxing
at the Four Seasons Hotel, perus-
ing the media coverage while try-
ing to sort out what happened. “It’s
only been, like, 12 hours, so I think
I’m still processing it...but it’s won-
derful,” he says. During the com-
motion Sunday night, Jenkins was
so shocked that he didn’t get to
deliver the speech he’d intended.
With more time, this is what hewould have said: “[Co-writer Tarell
Alvin McCraney] and Iare this kid.
We are Chiron,” he says, referring
to his background as a Miami boy
whose mother struggled with drug
addiction. “And you don’t think that
kid grows up to be nominated for
eight Academy Awards. It’s not a
dream he’s allowed to have. Istill
feel that way. I didn’t think this was
possible. But now I look at other
people looking atme, and ifIdidn’t
think it was possible, how are they
going to? Now it’s happened. What
I think of possibility, take it off the
table. The thing has happened.”
—NICOLE SPERLINGGROOMING: SIMONE/SISLEY PARIS/EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS
Photographed on Feb. 27, 2017, in the
Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills