Billy Porter to Star in James Baldwin Biopic as the Iconic Writer and Civil Rights Activist

Lea Michele continues to pay homage to Barbra Streisand. The Funny Girl star shared photos of the EGOT winner on her Instagram Story, which inspired her look at this year's Met Gala in New York City. Michele debuted a bob haircut and stunning gown that mirrored the inspiration she took from Streisand. The 36-year-old actress wore a custom Michael Kors Collection silver tulle cutout dress with hand-beaded mirror sequins, dégradé fringe, and a matching bow. Requiring over 1,440 hours to hand-embroider, the gown was adorned with 11,700 mirrored sequins and 10,100 individually stitched crystals scattered across the base.

The 118 is on the move! Ryan Murphy’s first responder series 9-1-1 has been canceled by FOX after six seasons — and already found a new home.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “9-1-1” is officially done at Fox, with the broadcaster canceling the series after six seasons. However, the show will be moving to ABC for its seventh season, Variety has confirmed. In addition, the sister series “9-1-1: Lone Star” has been renewed for Season 5 at Fox. “It has been an honor to be the founding network of ‘9-1-1’ and we are grateful to Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear, together with Angela Bassett, Peter Krause, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Oliver Stark, Aisha Hinds, Kenneth Choi, Ryan Guzman and the rest of the cast and crew, and 20th Television for delivering such an impactful series to Fox,” the network said in a statement. “We wish them well after ‘9-1-1’s’ final Fox season concludes.”

Fox has renewed 9-1-1: Lone Star, starring Rob Lowe, for a fifth season. It will be the only 9-1-1 series on the network next season as flagship 9-1-1 is not being renewed. (It is expected to move to ABC.)

and women, ultimately marrying his bride Ernestine.Richard Wayne Penniman, who died in 2020, was many things, hence the revealing new documentary Little Richard: I Am Everything, directed and produced by Lisa Cortés (All In: The Fight for Democracy), who sought to capture the mercurial musician’s many contradictions and put into perspective his undeniable cultural impact.“I realized that in looking at Richard’s history, he’s like, I always say, a pendulum,” says Cortés. “He’s going back and forth. He’s out, he bursts on the scene.

Carol Burnett was feeling the love ahead of her 90th birthday special.  celebrates the legendary icon's storied career on her birthday and features a slew of A-list friends, performers and colleagues, such as Bernadette Peters, Katy Perry, Julie Andrews, Cher and more, as they pay tribute to Burnett. The beloved icon sat down with ET's Nischelle Turner ahead of Wednesday's two-hour special, which was filmed in March at the Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles, where she reflected on the joyous celebration in her honor.«It was wonderful and embarrassing at the same time. It was so sweet and loving and I had so many good friends there and I was so touched by everything they said,» Burnett said in the exclusive sit-down interview. «You're going to have my chum, Julie Andrews, next to me.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As Carol Burnett turns 90, she bristles at the idea of looking back at her legacy. She’s not one to watch old episodes of her iconic “The Carol Burnett Show,” for example. “I’m not like Norma Desmond,” she quips, referring to the fading star in “Sunset Boulevard.” “The only time I do it is if I have to for a reason.” In this case, NBC gave her a good one. The network is set to air “Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love” on April 26, and the special features both new performances and clips from Burnett’s storied career. And it gave Burnett a chance to reminisce with old friends — and new. “It’s exactly what I wanted,” Burnett said. “I didn’t want a birthday party with cake and balloons and confetti and all of that. What I wanted was to have an entertaining show. And that’s what we got. It’s a variety show, with live entertainment by Bernadette Peters, Kristin Chenoweth, Billy Porter, Katy Perry, Darren Criss and Sutton Foster. And then funny moments with Kristen Wiig, Allison Janney and Laura Dern. We had a 19-piece orchestra live.”

American Horror Story's latest recruit, Kim Kardashian has been blasted a former star of the horror-drama series, Patti LuPone. Kim, 42, famed for her relationship with Kanye West, who she welcomed four children with across their eight-year marriage – as well as the TV phenomenon Keeping Up with the Kardashians – will co-headline the upcoming twelfth series of American Horror Story alongside Emma Roberts. But while appearing on US talkshow What What Happens Live with Andy Cohen this week, 74 year old Patti, who appeared in both the Coven and NYC instalments of AHS, took part in the 'Do! They! Give a Damn!?' segment with fellow guest John Leguizamo, as the host brought up Kim's surprise casting.

. During a previous stop by Andy Cohen’s talk show, the Beau Is Afraid star made headlines for calling mediocre in the Evita movie, famously saying the pop star was a  (LuPone, of course, originated the role of Eva Peron on Broadway; she won her first of three Tony Awards for her performance.) This weekend, during her most recent WWHL appearance, LuPone set her sights on a different superstar who’s about to grace the screen: .During a game called “Do! They! Give a Damn!?” Cohen asked LuPone and fellow guest John Leguizamo whether they cared about different cultural news items. LuPone didn’t give a damn about Barbra Streisand’s memoir being over 1,000 pages long, nor did she give a damn about —but she certainly gave a damn that the second-eldest in the 12th season of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story, subtitled Delicate. “Yes.

surprises James Corden at his home and offers to drive him to work. But once the two are in the car, this nice car ride turns into a tearjerker as Adele reminisces about her past appearances on the show, their friendship, his failed pranks and even the song she wrote about an emotional conversation the two shared. Adele’s first “Carpool Karaoke” was a huge success for “The Late Late Show,” so it only makes sense she would return for this series’ finale.

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

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.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Fox is making a case for its crime anthology series “Accused” for this year’s Emmys. The freshman broadcast series will vie for consideration in the limited or anthology series categories, and Variety can exclusively reveal the creative teams’ plans for submitting its sprawling ensemble and its respective races. Despite each episode tackling a new story with different characters, setting and subject matter, the actors have opted to divide themselves into separate acting races. Read: Variety Awards Circuit’s Emmys Hub

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Ron Bernstein, a veteran rights agent who has brokered adaptive deals for modern classics like “No Country for Old Men” and “Blackhawk Down,” has joined the Agency for the Performing Arts. He will serve as senior vice president of media rights, a mantle he will take up after a 23-year run at ICM Partners. Bernstein joins APA partners Steve Fisher and Debbie Deuble Hill in the publishing and media rights group. APA president Jim Osbourne announced Bernstein’s hire, effective Thursday. The addition is another big score for APA as the representation business continues to shift amid consolidation. Over a long and enviable career, Bernstein has represented some of the most acclaimed novelists, authors and journalists in the marketplace and sold the rights to countless feature films, limited series and shows to major buyers.

Civil Rights activist and author James Baldwin is recognized as one of the great minds of American literature. And this couldn’t be more apparent than with the desire to explore his life and legacy on the big screen as Billy Porter (“Pose“) is behind an upcoming biopic that will chronicle Baldwin’s life in a feature film adaptation.

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!

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.