Nearly four years after his history-making Emmy win, Billy Porter is set to portray a pioneering figure in the Black queer community.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the “Pose” actor will star as author and civil rights activist James Baldwin in a forthcoming biopic. The film will be an adaptation of David Leeming’s 1994 book “James Baldwin: A Biography,” featuring a script written by Porter and Dan McCabe.
“As a Black queer man on this planet with relative consciousness, I find myself, like James Baldwin said, ‘in a rage all the time.’ I am because James was,” Porter told Variety in a statement Wednesday. “I stand on James Baldwin’s shoulders, and I intend to expand his legacy for generations to come.”
A New York City native, Baldwin rose to fame in the 1950s and ’60s with passionate essays that touched on racial discrimination, sexuality and masculinity. He died in 1987 at the age of 63.
These days, he’s best remembered for his era-defining novels “Notes of a Native Son,” “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and “If Beale Street Could Talk,” which was adapted by Barry Jenkins into an Oscar-winning film in 2018.
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Porter has frequently described Baldwin as a personal hero, even quoting him in his 2019 Emmy Award speech. Like Baldwin, he has built a name for himself through art that unapologetically reflects his true self.
If the new film succeeds, it could catapult Porter into the esteemed ranks of EGOT winners by nabbing him an Oscar. In addition to his Emmy win for “Pose,” he received a Tony Award in 2013 for his portrayal of drag queen Lola in Broadway’s “Kinky Boots.” The musical’s cast album netted him a Grammy that same year.
These days, Porter is busier than ever. Earlier this year, he was seen in the big-screen comedy “80 For Brady,” which starred Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno and Lily Tomlin. He’s also at work on a new album, “Black Mona Lisa,” due out this summer.
“I’m so grateful that I’ve lived long enough to see the day where my queerness, which I was told would be my liability by allies and haters alike, and was my liability for decades, and now that queerness is my superpower,” he told Out magazine last month. “No glass ceiling, no limitations.”