The night before “If Beale Street Could Talk” had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the movie’s leading lady, KiKi Layne, found herself sleepless in couture. She had just left a party where everyone knew her director, Barry Jenkins, whose last film was the best-picture winner “Moonlight.” But the 26-year-old Ms. Layne, who makes her film debut in “Beale Street,” was still a mystery to people. And the next day, she would no longer be.
“I was in this beautiful Valentino gown, sitting on my bed at 4 a.m. like, ‘Girl, what is your life right now?’” Ms. Layne said. “I was reflecting on all the work that I put into getting here, just trying to soak it all in, knowing that this day would mean so much. Regardless of what happens and what people say — because people are going to have every opinion — the journey has been such a blessing, and nothing can take that away.”
So far, it’s been a promising start: Early notices have been glowing for “Beale Street,” which Mr. Jenkins adapted from the 1974 novel by James Baldwin. It casts Ms. Layne as 19-year-old Tish, whose idyllic New York romance with her childhood friend Fonny (Stephan James) is jeopardized when Fonny is arrested on false charges by a vindictive white cop. After Tish learns she is carrying Fonny’s child, she does all that she can to put her family back together, and Ms. Layne portrays that journey from sweet naïveté to hard-won experience with the certainty of a significant new movie star.
Though Ms. Layne has been acting since high school and spent her post-college years working in the Chicago theater scene, she is a Hollywood novice, having only appeared in one episode of television. She moved to Los Angeles last summer to pursue bigger opportunities and, months later, beat out 300 actresses for the role in “Beale Street.” When Mr. Jenkins phoned one morning from an unlisted number to give her the good news, Ms. Layne declined the call — “I was like, ‘I don’t know who that is!’” — though when he called again, she had a premonition she should pick up.
“He never introduced himself,” she remembered. “He’s just going on and on and then he finally says, ‘Girl, do you even know who you’re talking to?” And I literally said, ‘I think I’m talking to Barry Jenkins, and I’m just trying to be chill right now.’” He told Ms. Layne that she was his Tish. “Of course I said all the thank-yous,” she recalled, “but I just remember wanting to get him off the phone so I could scream and cry and call my mama.”
Since “Beale Street” debuted on Sunday, a steady stream of strangers has come up to Ms. Layne and wished her continued success. “I’m interested to see those little changes to my life,” she said, “and to see what happens when more people start to know the film and all this incredible work that went into it.” Still, one major difference is already detectable.
“This weekend, I’ve worn Dior, Prada and Valentino,” she said with a big smile. At the “Beale Street” premiere, she was dressed in head-to-toe pink Gucci that gleamed like wrapping paper. “I’m so thankful to all these brands for being willing to work with me before the movie is even out,” she said, “when I still have less than 2,000 followers on Instagram!”
