Throughout the decades, Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother has been played by some serious grand dames. Legends Helena Bonham-Carter and Whitney Houston (rest in power) have both made our dreams come true in separate live-screen adaptations. Now, Pose star Billy Porter is delivering a wonderfully haute couture interpretation of the character in writer-director Kay Cannon’s forthcoming musical adaptation of the classic tale.
On Friday, Entertainment Weekly shared an exclusive first look of Porter, who has been known to rock a ball gown or two on the red carpet, looking stunning as Cinderella’s latest savior. In the images, Porter is serving us full GOD-Mother of the House of Fairy Tale Xtravaganzas. He wears a diamond-encrusted choker-style necklace and a voluminous burnt-orange gown designed by Ellen Mirojnick, his silver wand ready to grant our wish to be even half as fierce as him. The ensemble comes complete with its own pair of custom Jimmy Choo boots.
Cannon told EW that, when writing the new Fairy Godmother, she wanted “to make it Billy Porter,” and that casting the Emmy-winning actor in the role was the “easiest” part of making the movie.
“Billy articulated the idea [that] magic has no gender,” she told the outlet.
Porter will star alongside pop singer Camila Cabello and Broadway icon Idina Menzel in the revamped telling of the enduring folk tale, which I can’t wait to watch when it’s released on Amazon Prime this September.
Watching the Brandy Norwood-led Cinderella — which featured an inclusive, multicultural cast — was a formative experience for me as a 90s kid. In that film, Whitney Houston’s glamorously matriarchal take on Fairy Godmother inspires Brandy’s Cinderella (and the audience by extension) to chase the impossible with a rousing Rodgers and Hammerstein anthem I am still singing in the mirror 20 years later. (“Dreams are happening everryyyyy day!”)
I can only imagine how pivotal this upcoming queering of the iconic character could be for the young audiences who will watch Porter play the part. At a time when trans and nonbinary kids have become the target of an unprecedented barrage of restrictive legislation targeting their rights, the next generation of LGBTQ+ youth will get to grow up with a gloriously queer, gender-swapped Fairy Godmother who symbolizes the actualization of one’s dreams.
Cinderella is only the beginning of the post-Pose Billy Porter agenda (which we absolutely support, of course). This week, the star was also announced as a voice actor on the upcoming reboot of The Proud Family, a classic Disney Channel animation series that showcased the comedic adventures of a Black family. On The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, Porter will voice Randall Leibowitz-Jenkins, a character who is in a same-sex relationship and the father of an adopted biracial child named Maya. Star Trek actor Zachary Quinto will star opposite Porter as Randall’s partner, Barry.
Okay, so with all of this great news, I think I know my wish for my fairy godmother: Can I please be seven again? Can Billy Porter wave that weighted wand in my direction?
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