Moonlight Director to Helm Chadwick Boseman Thriller Expatriate

Moonlight director Barry Jenkins will team with Black Panther movie actor Chadwick Boseman for the thriller Expatriate. Boseman wrote the movie’s script himself along with his writing partner Logan Coles. Universal will back the film, described as being in a similar vein to The Fugitive.


Jenkins became one of the hottest directors in Hollywood after Moonlight claimed the Best Picture award at last year’s Oscars. The coming-of-age film, starring Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris and Janelle Monae, snagged eight nominations including Best Director for Jenkins. Last fall, Jenkins started work on his follow-up, an adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk. Jenkins is also reportedly developing an Underground Railroad series for Amazon.


As reported by Deadline, Jenkins has now lined up his next feature film job after If Beale Street Could Talk – directing Chadwick Boseman in Expatriate. The thriller takes place in the 1970s and revolves around a plane hijacking. Marc Platt and Adam Siegel will produce through Marc Platt Productions together with Mark Johnson via Gran Via Productions. Mark Ceryak will also produce, with co-screenwriter Logan Coles serving as executive producer. Universal’s Chloe Yellin and Marc Platt Productions’ Ryan Christians will oversee production.


With Expatriate, actor Chadwick Boseman adds a hyphen to his title by also tackling writing chores. Boseman will next appear as an actor in the highly-anticipated MCU film Black Panther. Boseman originated Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War and will reprise the character in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4. Expatriate stands as the sole non-MCU project on the actor’s future slate, but more work surely will flow his way after Black Panther hits screens. Perhaps he hopes to develop more of his own projects as a writer (or director one day). For his first feature film as screenwriter, he has the privilege of working with a director who already has one Oscar winning film under his belt.


Jenkins, in the meantime, continues to build his own resume as a director. After the sensitive coming-of-age drama of Moonlight, Jenkins will switch gears somewhat by tackling a period thriller with Expatriate. Jenkins’ other upcoming film, If Beale Street Could Talk, stars Kiki Layne, Stephan James, Teyonah Parris, and Regina King in the story of a pregnant woman desperately trying to clear her fiancé’s name after he’s accused of murder.