Today, HBO announced that it will air a special based on the Ta-Nehisi Coates nonfiction book. Between the world and me, which is presented in the text as a letter from Coates to his teenage son about his life as a black man, the history of systemic racism in the United States, and how whites have benefited and empowered a white supremacist society without even necessarily being aware of that. How Vulture Points outThe TV version will technically be an adaptation of the 2018 theatrical presentation of the book at the Apollo Theater, which featured excerpts from reading Coates, and will also include “animation and archival and documentary material.”
So instead of an adaptation of what the book is about or what happens in the book, it’s an adaptation of the book itself. Apollo executive producer Kamilah Forbes will direct the special, with Coates saying in a statement that “there is no one better to put Between the world and me on screen and there is no better home than HBO. “Apparently, HBO hopes to launch Between the world and me this fall, which seems optimistic given the coronavirus, but a combination of readings and documentaries shouldn’t be too difficult to do outside of a regular study space.
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