Billy Porter Picked This Trans Screenwriter’s Movie For His Directorial Debut

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Billy Porter Picked This Trans Screenwriter’s Movie For His Directorial Debut Dawn Ennis Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I report on the fight for transgender equality and other LGBTQ issues. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience.

Got it! Jul 14, 2022, 11:58pm EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Director Bill Porter and actors Kelly Lamor Wilson and Eva Reign and on the set of their film . . .

[+] ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE An Orion Pictures Release Photo credit: Tony Rivetti © 2022 Orion Releasing LLC. All Rights Reserved. Tony Rivetti Amazon Studios Orion Releasing LLC Outfest kicked off its 40th anniversary film festival Thursday in Los Angeles by presenting Grammy-, Emmy- and Tony Award-winning actor, performer and activist Billy Porter with its 2022 Achievement Award, and then hosted the premiere of his directorial debut film.

As Kemberlie Spivey reported in Forbes in November 2020, the original title was What If? Now, it’s Anything’s Possible , a transgender coming of age drama, starring an out trans actress, Eva Reign. Here’s a look at the trailer for the film , which debuts on Amazon Prime on July 22: Reign and Porter are making all the headlines, but the unsung star of this project for MGM’s Orion Pictures is Mexican-born out trans screenwriter Ximena Garcia Lecuona . With this film, she is finally emerging in the spotlight, walking the red carpet at the premiere at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.

A. Before their big night, the screenwriter and Porter answered my questions for Forbes: Billy Porter Shavonne Wong MORE FROM FORBES VETTED The Best Post-Prime Electric Toothbrush Deals You Can Still Shop By Jason R. Rich Forbes Staff Amazon Prime Day Baby Deals Are Still Happening, So Snag Them Before They’re Gone By Lex Goodman Contributor Dawn Ennis: How do you feel about debuting your film at Outfest and what does that mean for the LGBTQIA community and representation and visibility overall? Billy Porter: It feels like coming home.

One of the first films I ever starred in was Greg Berlanti’s The Broken Hearts Club all the way back in 2000. Haven’t been back since. I’m thrilled.

Representation matters, and I am so blessed to have lived long enough to see the day where I, a Black queer man, get to live to the fullness of my authenticity and thrive. Ennis: How does a brand like Outfest help support your vision? Porter: Outfest has always been a lifeline for those of us queer folk who had no place to go. To have a queer film festival that’s 40-years-old is a testament to the fierceness of our community.

Build it—and they will come. Ennis: What does it mean to you to be honored and recognized by Outfest? Porter: I haven’t really been able to digest the magnitude of this moment. I’m working on that.

But I will say this—it was over 20-years ago when I decided to choose myself and hopefully change the trajectory of my life. I did that. And I’m humbled and geeked that Outfest sees me.

Left, Actor Eva Reign and director Bill Porter on the set of their film ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE An . . .

[+] Orion Pictures Release Photo credit: Tony Rivetti © 2022 Orion Releasing LLC. All Rights Reserved. Tony Rivetti Amazon Studios Orion Releasing LLC Ennis: What was your reaction when you learned the story you wrote was finally going to be made into a movie? Ximena García Lecuona: I think the first reaction was not excitement.

It was anxiety. I was like, ‘Oh, no. Oh, shit! Like, what? What have I done?’ Because I really wrote the movie not thinking of the consequences, you know? It was just a fun thing to write.

I wanted to be a writer. I needed to have some samples. And then when it actually started to happen, it was like, ‘Oh, no.

People are going to see what I wrote? Get to know me on a very large scale?’ That kind of exposure was very, very scary for me. But that went away, eventually. Eventually, it just faded into happiness and feeling I was telling an important story.

Ennis: And then to have Billy Porter, of all people, select this as his directorial debut. García Lecuona: Yeah, that was great. I think I was excited when they told me that, because I just really wanted to meet Billy Porter.

Left, Billy Porter, right Dawn Ennis, at John Jay College in September 2018. Cathy Renna Ennis: Having met him and interviewed him, I can tell you it’s a treat. Yeah.

I heard from Outfest executive director Damien Navarro that he was very inclusive on the set as well. García Lecuona: Yeah, he was great on set. He’s very sensitive, very fun, great with the younger members of the cast.

He’s an angel. Ennis: I think one of the things I worry about, as an aspiring screenwriter, is I write it and then somebody changes it and it’s unrecognizable from what I had as a vision. Has that happened to you in any way? García Lecuona: Things definitely change, but I like it.

Like in Anything’s Possible , Billy came in, and not a lot of the script changed, like the script itself, but Billy is very intuitive, in the moment. What the movie needed was changes on the spot and I like every change that I saw. I was like, ‘Oh, no, that was correct, like, I overlooked that in the script, or it just went to a very surprising place that I like.

I think the movie benefited from having so many voices. At some points, I think I would kind of forget about the delivery and the joy involved in the script and go to serious places. Billy came in and said, ‘No, we can have that, but also make it fun, and have them dance here.

’ I love how it how it evolved and changed. Ennis: It is a collaborative process. You’ve been in the industry, for lack of a better word, for six years.

I noticed that the IMDB people are still using your deadname [that’s the word many trans people use for their birth name]. How do you feel about that? Is that being out there of concern to you? García Lecuona: Do they really? Because I know I changed it on my IMDB Pro profile. Doesn’t really bother me that much.

Like, for example, right now, I’ve been battling with Zoom because it always has my deadname on it, and I have to pop on and, really quick, change it. Like, ‘No! Don’t read that!’ Ennis: Well, it’s part of the process. And if you don’t mind me asking—I don’t want to make this all about your transition—but how long have you been out? García Lecuona: I was out as as transgender nonbinary for about five years.

And I came out as a trans woman a year ago. Ennis: Got it. And when did you first know? Because I knew when I was four years old.

But that’s not everybody’s experience. García Lecuona: No, not that soon. I didn’t know until later.

I think when I was growing up, I wasn’t that feminine, you know? Like I had Legos and violent video games and stuff. Ennis: Lots of girls play violent video games. García Lecuona: That’s what we do.

But I didn’t know until later. I think I always knew there was something different, something, but I didn’t really like it. That really clicked, that it was about gender, when I was maybe 21 years old.

Ennis: May I ask how old you are? García Lecuona: I’m 28. Ennis: I can’t speak to what goes on in Mexico City, but here in the United States, it’s a genuine war against transgender identity. They want to stop us from competing in sports .

They want us to stop getting gender affirming health care , both kids and adults. And they’re now back on the bathroom fight , trying to keep us out of the bathrooms that match our gender identity. What’s your perspective on all that stuff that’s going on? There’s even a new poll saying most Americans don’t think that transgender people are the gender we say we are .

García Lecuona: It’s crazy, because when I started transition, I was living here in Mexico, and I was like, ‘Oh, should I move back to the U. S. ? Is it better over there?’ And I started doing it here, and now I’m thinking, maybe it was better to do it here.

In a lot of ways, Mexico is kind of more advanced in that regard, because I think there’s not as much of a culture war over here as it is like in the U. S. Like, the hot button issue of transgender people extends to everything, like an ideological weapon.

We represent everything, like the degradation of Christian morals or whatever. It was kind of like a microcosm of everything that conservative people think is wrong with the world, which sucks. We’re just trying to live our life and be happy and be loved.

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