Renée Elise Goldsberry Joins Billy Porter's Directorial Debut WHAT IF?

According to Full Circle, Tony. Emmy, and Grammy award winner, Billy Porter, is set to make his feature directorial debut with the feature film, What If?.

Hamilton Tony Award- winner Renée Elise Goldsberry recently joined the cast to star alongside actors Eva Reign and Abubakr Ali. The cast also includes Courtnee Carter, Kelly Lamor Wilson, and Grant Reynolds.

The film is described as "a modern coming-out story" and will follow a transgender high school senior named Kelsa (Reign) and KHAL (Ali). When KHAL posts about his crush on social media, the internet encourages him to go for it, kicking off a high school love story for our times.

Production is set to begin this week.

The film's screenplay is written by Alvaro García Lecuona, Orion Pictures will produce and distribute.

Goldsberry won a Tony Award for her role in the original Broadway cast of Hamilton. Her other Broadway credits include work in Good People, The Color Purple, Rent, and The Lion King. On TV, she's known for roles on "Girls5Eva", "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist," "Altered Carbon," "Fast & Furious Spy Racers," "The Good Wife," "The Following," "Law & Order: SVU," "Masters of Sex," "Younger," and "OLTL."

Billy Porter is an award-winning actor, singer, director, composer, and playwright. He recently won the Emmy Award for Lead Actor for his appearance in FX's Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated drama "Pose", and most recently received his second Emmy nomination for this role.

A Hollywood Walk of Fame inductee, Porter has numerous theatre credits, including the role of Lola in the Broadway musical "Kinky Boots," which he originated in 2013 and for which he won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards, as well as the Grammy for best musical-theatre album. Recently, Porter appeared in the second season of CBS All Access' "The Twilight Zone", and "American Horror Story: Apocalypse". He can next be seen in the third season of FX's "Pose", voicing Audrey II in Greg Berlanti's remake of "Little Shop of Horrors," as well as the highly anticipated "Cinderella" re-make in 2021. Porter's most recent single "Finally Ready" was released in June 2020; he also released his single "For What It's Worth" in April to motivate potential votes.