Billy Porter To Star/Co-Write Biopic Movie About Civil Rights Activist & Author James Baldwin

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor “Rust” resumed filming Thursday at the Yellowstone ranch in Montana, a year and a half after Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Director Joel Souza, who was injured in the shooting at a New Mexico movie ranch, is returning to finish the Western that stars Baldwin, Jensen Ackles, Travis Fimmel, Frances Fisher and Brady Noon. Manslaughter charges against Baldwin were officially dropped Friday. While production is under way, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy is working on a documentary about Baldwin and the “Rust” movie accident, Variety has confirmed. Kennedy, who has directed documentaries including “Last Days in Vietnam” and “Ethel,” was seen filming Baldwin as he left his New York home for Montana and her documentary crew is also on set in Montana, according to the Daily Mail.

One day after New Mexico authorities announced they were dropping the involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin, Deadline is reporting that Baldwin has landed a new film role.

Alec Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter charges were officially dismissed Friday. Special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis announced the decision Thursday as "new facts" have been revealed that require further investigation. In their motion to dismiss, the special prosecutors noted the further investigation and forensic analysis required cannot be completed before the start of the preliminary hearing on May 3.

EXCLUSIVE: One day after New Mexico dropped criminal charges against Rust actor and producer Alec Baldwin in the tragic set death of DP Halyna Hutchins, Deadline has learned that the Oscar nominee and multi-Emmy winner is set to star in Mike Hatton’s feature directorial debut, Hollywood Heist.

Alec Baldwin is speaking out after it was announced prosecutors are dropping all charges against him in the Rust shooting case.

Alec Baldwin is about to be completely off the hook for the Rust tragedy.

Prosecutors in New Mexico plan to drop an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western film “Rust,” Baldwin’s attorneys said Thursday.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Prosecutors are expected to drop charges against Alec Baldwin in the death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, sources confirmed on Thursday. In a statement, Baldwin’s lawyer said he was pleased with the outcome.

EXCLUSIVE: Less than two weeks before a mini-trial is scheduled to begin in New Mexico over the October 2021 killing of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, all charges are going to be dropped against Alec Baldwin, for now.

Billy Porter has signed up to co-write and star in a James Baldwin biopic and recently addressed criticism of people doubting his talent.

Emanuel Okusanya The fast-rising Afropop singer Ayra Starr says she always knew she was destined for greatness. It didn’t take long: She’d signed with the major African label Mavin, racked up hundreds of millions of streams, headlined a U.K. tour and gotten cosigns from many of her idols, all before her 21st birthday this coming June. After her debut single “Away” shot her to stardom in her native Nigeria, her hit single “Rush” has surpassed 100 million streams on both Spotify and YouTube, and she just dropped a tag-team single with labelmate DJ Big N and singer Oxlade called “How Many Times.” It all began simply enough: She’d been singing with her brother for most of her life, and one day when she was 18, “I posted a video — it was the first original song I posted online,” she recalls, “and the next day my executive producer called me and invited me to the studio. Literally three days later I was signed.” The label in question is Mavin Records, the powerhouse Nigeria-based company that launched the global careers of industry icons such as Tiwa Savage, Don Jazzy, Rema and others. Her career vaulted to the next level with “Bloody Samaritan” — an R&B banger that took off in the U.K. and caught the attention of Kelly Rowland, who later joined the remix and became a mentor to Starr. 

Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh is officially returning to Starfleet.

The Late Late Show with James Corden has set its guests for its final broadcast. Harry Styles and Will Ferrell will take a seat on the couch joining Corden for the show’s last episode on Thursday, April 27 (12:37-1:37 AM, ET/PT), wrapping up the CBS late-night series’ eight-year run.

Carla Renata A veteran of stage and screen, Tony winner Jane Krakowski returns to “Schmigadoon!” In the second season of Apple TV+’s musical series, Krakowski plays Bobbie, a trial lawyer who sings and dances while roller-skating blindfolded, holding sparklers in her hands and doing splits and flipping around on a trapeze bar. “We tried to pick things I mostly already knew how to do, except trapeze. So, I was allowed to go to trapeze school for like a week and grab five lessons before we filmed,” Krakowski told Variety on the red carpet at Thursday’s FYC event in Los Angeles.

"Boy Meets World" alum turned-adult film star Maitland Ward is opening up about the "issues" she experienced during her years on the hit 1990s sitcom. The 46-year-old actress played Rachel McGuire during the ABC series' last two seasons from 1998 to 2000. In a new interview with Fox News Digital, she reflected on the culture of the time and the expectations that she felt were put on female Disney stars.  "You had to be virginal, but you also had to be sexual," Ward said.

Billy Porter has got his next role lined up, and the “Pose” star will be stepping into some big shoes after signing on to play legendary gay Black writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin.

Billy Porter has booked a very exciting new role!

I am Not Your Negro.”“We at Allen Media Group Motion Pictures are extremely passionate about sharing James Baldwin’s phenomenal story with the world,” said Founder/Chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group Byron Allen. “Billy Porter and Dan McCabe’s talent and commitment to amplifying James Baldwin’s legacy and contributions are invaluable and unmatched for this unique and epic story.”“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,” said Billy Porter.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Billy Porter is preparing to portray the author and civil rights activist James Baldwin in an upcoming biopic. He will also co-write the untitled movie with Dan McCabe, which will be adapted from the 1994 book “James Baldwin: A Biography” by David Leeming. An emeritus professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Leeming was well versed in Baldwin as his friend of 25 years as well as his assistant. Porter says it has been a career-long dream to tell the story of Baldwin on film. Born in Harlem in 1924, Baldwin was a Black gay writer whose influential works include “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” “Notes of a Native Son” and “If Beale Street Could Talk.” In addition to writing, Baldwin fought for racial justice in the U.S. civil rights movement. In Leeming’s book, he’s described as a “complex, troubled, driven, and brilliant man” who has a “gift for compassion and love.”

Billy Porter (Pose) and frequent collaborator Dan McCabe (Fruits of Thy Labor) have been tapped to script a James Baldwin biopic for Byron Allen‘s Allen Media Group Motion Pictures, with the former also to realize his longtime dream of portraying the cultural icon.