Emmy Winner Billy Porter to Co-Write & Star in James Baldwin Biopic

by Darian Scalamoni

    Billy Porter is getting ready to portray a literary icon and civil rights activist with his next project. According to Variety, Porter (Pose, Cinderella) will jump into the role of James Baldwin in an upcoming biopic that he'll also co-write.

    Porter is jumping aboard the currently untitled film that will adapt the 1994 book, James Baldwin: A Biography, which was written by David Leeming. Leeming was a retired English professor at UConn, who is incredibly knowledgeable on the life of Baldwin, having been his friend for 25 years, as well as his assistant. Porter will co-write the script with Dan McCabe, who is also working on a family drama series with Porter at Peacock titled Fruits of Thy Labor.

    Porter has long said it's been a career-long dream to tell Baldwin's story on screen, due to the nature of which Porter has been treated in his life for being a gay, black man, Baldwin had endured many of the same hardships that the Emmy-winning actor has faced over the course of his life. "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, I stand on James Baldwin's shoulders, and I intend to expand his legacy for generations to come." Porter's words of respect, admiration but also purposeful towards his goal of making a stellar telling of Baldwin's story speak volumes to how dedicated he'll be in telling his tale of life on-screen.

    Baldwin was born in Harlem in 1924 and became a prominent writer, whose powerful works include If Beale Street Could Talk, Go Tell It on the Mountain and Notes of a Native Son. In addition to being an influence in the literary community, Baldwin was also a Black gay man, who fought for racial justice in the civil rights movement. Lemming's book in described Baldwin as a "complex, troubled, driven and brilliant man."

    Porter won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Pray Tell in Ryan Murphy's series Pose which aired on FX from 2018-2021. He was later nominated two other times in the same category for his role. Additionally, Porter is a Tony winner for producing A Strange Loop for Broadway. He recently appeared in 80 for Brady alongside Jane Fonda and Sally Field and made his directorial debut with the high school-set film, Anything's Possible. He'll next be seen on camera for the feature film, Our Son with Luke Evans, Andrew Rannells and Phylicia Rashad. He has also lined up his next directing gig with queer teen comedy, To Be Real, set to be produced by Gabrielle Union.