Billy Porter to star as Fairy Godmother in new ‘Cinderella’ movie
Porter joins Camila Cabello for "modern reimagining of the classic fairy tale"
Emmy-winning Pose star Billy Porter has revealed that he will play the Fairy Godmother in a new, live-action version of Cinderella.
Porter, who confirmed the casting to Today, will star alongside singer Camila Cabello, making her acting debut in the title role of Sony’s “modern reimagining of the classic fairy tale.”
“I have a couple movies that I’m working on,” Porter said during the New Yorker Festival. “I’m gonna be playing the fairy godmother in the new Cinderella movie with Camila Cabello.”
The idea for the film, which follows an ambitious young woman who is held back by her current status, came from late-night host James Corden.
Cabello will work on original music for the film, and The Wrap reports that Idina Menzel is in talks to star as the evil stepmother.
2019 has thus far been a banner year for Porter, who last month won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Pray Tell in FX’s Pose.
He made Emmy history, becoming the first openly gay black man to win the award, and said he was “so overwhelmed and I am so overjoyed to have lived long enough to see this day” during his acceptance speech.
He added: “[Gay writer and activist] James Baldwin said, ‘Took many years of vomiting up all the filth that I had been taught about myself and halfway believed before I could walk around this earth like I had the right to be here.’ I have the right. You have the right. We all have the right.”
The win also brought Porter one step closer to a full EGOT — Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony — following his Tony Award for the starring role in Broadway musical Kinky Boots and a Grammy Award for the show’s cast album.
Porter will return in season three of Pose, expected to debut next year, and will also star in upcoming comedy Like a Boss alongside Rose Byrne, Tiffany Haddish, and Salma Hayek. In addition, Porter announced that he has signed a deal to write his memoirs.
Porter also popped up on Saturday Night Live over the weekend, taking cues from his Pray Tell character to announce the Democratic presidential candidates during a skit about last week’s LGBTQ town hall:
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