Emmy-winning actor Billy Porter is making his directorial debut with a film about a trans high school senior navigating friends, family, and new love.
Porter is best known for his work as Pray Tell on Pose and most recently as the fairy godmother in Amazon’s musical movie Cinderella. But he’s stepping behind the camera to put the spotlight on a “delightfully modern coming-of-age story” titled Anything’s Possible.
The official trailer shows trans senior Kelsa (Eva Reign), who is navigating her first boyfriend, Khal (Katy Keene actor Abubakr Ali), her family, and her final year of high school.
“When her classmate Khal gets a crush on her, he musters up the courage to ask her out, despite the drama he knows it could cause,” the trailer’s description reads. “What transpires is a romance that showcases the joy, tenderness, and pain of young love.”
“I ain’t Barbra Streisand yet,” Porter told Variety. “It’s like, let me do one thing at a time. Let me direct something first. Then I’ll direct something and be in it, too.”
He continued: “This is an aspirational story. It’s almost like a fairytale,” Porter says. “We know that. It’s a look at what we can be. That’s what we as artists get to do—look at what we can be and what we should be.”
For her part, the actress shared information about the film on Instagram, writing “Hey y’all, meet Kelsa. Check out these first-look images from #AnythingsPossible, the movie I’m starring in. I am so honored to help tell this story. There’s so much to say, but for now, I’ll just reiterate how excited I am for you all to see this beautiful story unfold!”
Talking with Them earlier this year, Reign said of the film, “It’s ironic: The movie’s called Anything’s Possible, but I didn’t believe it. My whole life, I’d wanted to be an actress, but even after I got that call I was telling myself, ‘I’m a Black trans girl—I’m not going to be the lead in a movie. That’s not feasible. I’ll be lucky to play someone’s friend.’”
Anything’s Possible will be available on Prime Video on July 22.
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