If this bit of news were a ballroom walk-off, the category would probably be “Fairy Godmother Realness,” and Billy Porter would take home the trophy. His character Pray Tell, a ballroom competition MC who spends his non-shade hours tending and dispensing wisdom to a variety of queer street kids on FX’s Pose, just earned the Grammy and Tony-winning actor an Emmy Award. And now he’ll become a different sort of caretaker when he steps into the role of – we’ll call it legendary – Fairy Godmother in Sony’s new update of Cinderella. Sure, Disney did their own live-action remake a few years back, but now it’s Sony’s turn at the intellectual property, with pop star Camila Cabello (who recently performed on SNL in full Marie Antoinette-style ball gown) as the title princess wannabe. This modern version from writer-director Kay Cannon is scheduled to roll in early 2020, so casting is still ongoing – the rumor is that Wicked star Idina Menzel is circling the role of the Evil Stepmother – but we have a feeling that this one, if executed with style, could be the fiercest, most diva-packed one of all.
The cast alone here: Laverne Cox, Carey Mulligan… OK, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Do you know Emerald Fennell? It seems like you’re about to. The actor is already known for her role of Camilla Parker Bowles on Netflix’s The Crown, but it’s her work behind the camera that could break the British creator’s name in that Phoebe Waller-Bridge way. Fennell already writes for Waller-Bridge’s awesome Killing Eve, and now she’s got her own first feature film lined up. Promising Young Woman, to be written and directed by Fennell, will tell the story of a woman on a mission of vengeance against men due to a traumatic event in her past. And it stars – take a deep breath if reading this aloud – Carey Mulligan, Laverne Cox, Bo Burnham (Eighth Grade), Jennifer Coolidge, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Molly Shannon, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown (Billions, sure, but let’s never forget that he’s always and forever the voice of Mr. Krabs on Spongebob Squarepants), Adam Brody and Connie Britton. We don’t know what the traumatic event is, nor do we know what sort of vengeance this character will enact, but we’re already here for it.
Romeo San Vicente is ready for Billy Porter to be in the EGOT club!
