Openly homosexual actor Billy Porter, known for his role in the FX series “Pose” — which reportedly is comprised of “the largest cast of transgender … and LGBTQ actors in television history” — has been selected to play the role of the fairy godmother in the upcoming Sony live-action remake of the Disney tale “Cinderella.”
According to reports, the film, being co-produced by comedian and talk show host James Corden, will be a musical modern retelling of the 1950’s tale, in which a beautiful young girl who wants to go to the ball but faces obstacles from her wicked stepmother and jealous stepsisters, who treat her harshly. A magical “fairy godmother” soon appears and helps Cinderella’s wish come true, but with the notation that the transformation will only last until midnight.
“Salagadoola mechicka boola/Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo,” the fairy sings while waving her magic wand.
Filming for the updated children’s classic is set to begin in February in London, with Idina Menzel of the likewise magic-themed “Frozen” — and also the Broadway plays “Rent” and “Wicked” — starring as the wicked stepmother, and singer Camilla Cabello taking the lead role as Cinderella.
Porter, who is “married” to another man, was selected to play the fairy godmother, confirming the news to reporters earlier this month.
Porter won an Emmy last month for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series” for his role as Pray Tell in FX’s “Pose,” remarking during his speech, “We, as artists, are the people that get to change the molecular structure of the hearts and minds of the people on this planet. Don’t ever forget that.”
The broadcast centers on drag ballroom culture in the 1980s and 90s, with the struggle of AIDS often running through the story line.
“Upon receiving an HIV positive diagnosis, Blanca Rodriguez is forced to confront her mortality and dedicates herself to leaving a legacy. With the encouragement of her friend Pray Tell, the fierce patriarch and emcee of the house balls, Blanca … starts her very own ‘house,’ a self-selected family that provides support to LGBTQ youth rejected by their birth families,” an outline of the show reads.
Porter told PEOPLE in August prior to receiving his award that he had difficulty at first finding his place in the entertainment industry.
“I wasn’t having a great time living up to the hetero-normative masculinity standard to get the straight male work,” Porter said. “So I wasn’t really working in film and television. And it was just frustrating, you know? It was just frustrating to sort of feel ignored and feel dismissed, and dismissed for even the flamboyant things.”
In February, Porter wore a long, flowing ball gown to the Oscars, and in June, he donned a red and pink jacket with a train similar to that of a wedding gown. The garment was stated to have been made, in part, from the curtains used in the Broadway musical “Kinky Boots.”
“Hunties, the Tony Awards just got gayer!” Porter wrote on Instagram. “Thank you to @kinkybootsbway and @scenerybags for hooking me up with this curtain. #pride #broadway.”
Other photos shared to social media show the actor often wearing dresses or skirts. See, for example, here, here, here and here.
In an interview this past June with “The Late Night Show With Stephen Colbert,” Porter explained that since pants are no longer considered to be only for men, it seems wrong to him that it would be objectionable for a man to wear a dress, as it would be the equivalent of calling women “disgusting.”
“Women wearing pants is powerful. It’s strong. Everybody accepts it. And [yet] it’s associated with the patriarchy. It’s associated with being male,” he said. “The moment a man puts on a dress, it’s disgusting. So, what are you saying? Men are strong, women are disgusting? I’m not doing that anymore. I’m done with that.”
“I’m a man in a dress, and if I feel like wearing a dress, I’m going to wear one. You know, people forget that Jesus wore a dress too. They call them robes, but He wore a dress. They were dresses,” Porter asserted.
As previously reported, the Bible teaches that all men are in the exact same predicament: All are born with the Adamic sin nature and are therefore “by nature the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3), having various inherent inclinations that are contrary to the law and will of God and being utterly incapable of changing by themselves (Job 14:4).
It is why Jesus came: to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) and that they might be “saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9) — taking out of the way for those who are saved both the penalty for, and the power of, sin.
Jesus outlined in John 3:5-7 that men must be regenerated by the second birth, and be transformed from being in Adam to being in Christ, or they cannot see the kingdom of Heaven. This work of the Holy Spirit is known in Christianity as the doctrine of regeneration.
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them,” reads Ezekiel 36:26-27.
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