FX’s Pose: Ryan Murphy with Emmy-Nominated Billy Porter

how are you today how you doing scarf isn't blocking my fire thank you I almost wore that always trying to steal my clothes and I never can so I'm here tonight to celebrate why I can't see a damn thing I'm here to celebrate my good friend Billy Porter so we have an amazing story to tell and I'll start by saying this so two years ago this week Billy Porter came I was in New York and he came into a room to audition for a part that did not exist there was no pray tell on the page I had known about Billy's work for a long time and I kept saying to our casting director who's so brilliant Alexa Fogle we've got to find a way to get Billy Porter on this show and there was no real part that was right for him so there was a there was a role that was called the MC that had two lines in the pilot so I said to my fellow writer Steven canals and Brad Falchuk I suggest I'm gonna have Billy come in and you're gonna see what I know and then we're gonna talk and they said okay so I'll get back to that moment in a minute but from that moment two years ago this week - what Billy Porter has become in the world which in my opinion is one of the biggest cultural forces of change that we've seen in a long time [Applause] he is so beloved and so celebrated in every magazine once him and he's nominated for awards and Taylor Swift is calling late at night to tell him he's changing the world which has actually happened so Billy I want to start by talking with you about this evolution for you you know when you had done a lot you had been in the game a long time you have a Tony Award for kinky boots you have a Grammy Award for kinky boots so you showed up with authority you had done the work which is why when we were shooting the first season of pose the long story short is that Brad and Steven after Billy left the room without audition we're like holy [ __ ] so we created this role of pray tell for him just based on what he did and all he did us come in and he talked for 20 minutes about how mad he was about Trump in the world and things that were happening so got me riled up he knows what questions ask I do so he was which I wanted him to do because this part was I just knew that I wanted to lean into what Billy strengths was as a person as an actor so several weeks into the shooting of the show which is a very difficult shoot show to shoot with a lot of moving pieces I called it Billy about a scene we were doing I think in Episode three it was very early on in season 1 and I said as the leading man of the show I think you should bubble and he goes what are you talking about I said you're the leading man of this show and if you're gonna be that I want you to think about this and he said that's not true I'm a supporting character and I said no your mother-fucking not you are the male lead of this show this storyline revolves around you being the male lead of this show and that for you Billy was a breakthrough moment I think in terms of your performance so can you talk about that and why why did you say that why did you feel that well you know I came out in the 80s I was in drama school at Carnegie Mellon in 87 you know while they were casting me as Romeo while they had an idea that I might possibly grow up to be a leading man I was the Queen going for who where is that gonna happen because the archetypes that I see don't look like me they are James Earl Jones who's the patriarch the black patriarch there is Denzel Washington who is the sex symbol and there's Eddie Murphy who's the genius clown they are all straight some of them violently straight so i'ma stay over here i'ma sing as high as I can and as loud as I can for as long as I can and get myself a job so I can eat you know I abandoned all ideas of that of being a leading man because all we saw what was what was traditional I am NOT traditional so I couldn't see it and for 30 years I have sort of navigated a career based on my own doubts my own uncomfortableness surrounding being in the front as a leading man like that you know thirty years I've been in this business and the first time that I've ever been the object of anyone's affection and anything was last season in episode 8 I kissed somebody for the first time in my career at all it's like you just get used to it you just get used to being the funny friend you get used to the industry cutting your dick off because you're a queen and they don't want to see it and they don't want to hear it yet that's all they want to talk about you know that's the thing that is the motivation for the oppression is what we're doing in our bedrooms get out of my bedroom you'll be fine but simultaneously when we have these moments where we can create a space that shows african-american men trying to figure out how to love each other as opposed to trying to kill each other you know those stories get greenlit all the time and I am so grateful to be a part of what I see as a change as a change in the narrative as a reclamation of our power or claiming our power for the first time I don't know whatever it is I'm a part of it and I feel and I'm thrilled so to go to go from that moment in that phone call that we had where you you finally felt I think looking back at it seen yes yes and Billy and I talked I've talked about this before but when I was directing the pilot in the second episode there was a moment where I approached Billy to direct him in a very specific way and I said what so we were doing the ball scenes of a ball scene and I you know had been told so often that the reason why I wasn't booking and film and television was because I was too flamboyant or too big or too much it was always my fault I was to to to to something and so I came into this space you know thinking that I needed to turn myself down and make myself presentable for television and for Brian Murphy so I was doing my television birth what I thought was my television version of pray tell at the balls and he's like um are you gonna give me the [ __ ] don't you worry about it I'll take care of whatever that is you don't you worry about that I need everything that you are and all the things that you do right now action and it's like it's so freeing you know when you have been in Chains and when you've been in bondage simply because of who you are it's not acceptable you know but as the wise Maya Angelou said we teach people how to treat us so until I treat myself right until I honor myself nobody else knows how to do that and that's a long journey that's a really interesting that's an interesting journey because when you get messaging and the only messaging that you get is that something's wrong with you you're an abomination nobody wants you nobody will ever want you you [ __ ] you no matter how strong you are those messages get in and we very often unconsciously no matter how strong we are make decisions based on that unconscious energy that's flowing in our bodies so you got to vomit that up like James Baldwin said it took me years and years to vomit up the ship that people told me about myself and I halfway believed before I could find the courage to walk on this earth as if I had the business to be here it's you know it's breathtaking you know it takes my breath away I feel the same way because when I first started off in television was 1998 the first thing I ever did was a show called popular on the WB and and I was told you can't have a gay character you can't talk about gay things I couldn't even have a cheerleader wear a fur coat because it was too gay so I fought back and I have fought and fought and fought and fought and fought and around 2009 2010 you know the fighting became less and I look at Billy's career and I feel you know your ascension is one of the things that I'm the most proud of because you know we've only gotten love and support from our network from our studio there's never been in note they were always saying do it more we want more more more more more and I was talking about that sex scene in there too two weeks ago they wanted more of that I couldn't believe it and Navigon uh and so to go from for me to go from that and and Billy and I are in the similar generation to where Billy is the first out gay actor nominated for Best Drama actor and their history the Emmy Awards is it amazing thing yeah and I read that that statistic was released you know the David nominations came out I had to read it twice I couldn't believe that that was true I couldn't either so you continue to be a person who's the first the first which is an amazing thing and let's talk about that sex scene a little bit that yes Babli [Applause] I'll tell you a funny story that you don't know what okay so now when you do anything when you when you do anything sexualized in television or in movies you hire people who are called intimacy coordinator yes intimately cordial I really wish I had and the dating scene back in the day so what this person does is they look and they they walk in and they say are you comfortable are you comfortable there's a lot of talking and how far do you want to go do you want to use tongue or not you know [ __ ] like that so so when we were shooting Billy's scene which is sort of a first I think for network television and in its realness and its boldness and its beauty I'm at one point the intimacy coordinator was very quiet and the producer walked up to her and said are you okay and she burst out into tears and she said I cannot believe for the first time that I'm seeing these images mm-hmm it was so beautiful and you did that so congratulations thank he was nervous and the other thing that's so powerful I think about what we do I feel this about myself but you know people young people will see you and the work that you've done and you know Billy has had a not an easiest road there were many times when he was in Hollywood starting out where you slept on couches yeah you could not get auditions and you did not know where you know your next meal was gonna come from not always what was that like well you know the first 10 years of my career were like gangbusters you know I can't I came out of Carnegie Mellon second semester of my senior year I was cast in the original cast of Miss Saigon I was doing a bunch of Broadway I had a recording contract on AM records you know I was chugging away I was chugging away and towards the end of the decade it sort of started probably around 96 when my album you know the the record the record business is is is the thing that almost killed me because my voice my singing voice was the thing that always saved me it always took lifted me out of my circumstance and let me hover in a safer space until I could find my way back and then I could get back in the real life so this was the first time that my voice that my gayness overshadowed my voice they didn't want me they kicked me out thing it was like get out of here get out of here I moved to Los Angeles I had done a couple of movies I thought I'm gonna go to Los Angeles I'm gonna be me and I sat there for two and a half years I maybe have four auditions in two and a half years here for addition I maybe have four auditions I can count maybe five you know I as the sidekick I'm guessing as the sidekick you know and I just didn't know where to go I didn't know what to do and I did this workbook called the artists way I don't know if you have ever heard that heard of that book yeah and you know there's a there's a there's a chapter in there where she talks about it I'm paraphrasing and whatever but she thought she talks about you know just make a list of excuse me the people the kinds of people you admire and reasons why you admire them but like don't write down what you think you should based on what you're doing write down the first thing that comes to your head and I did in the list was really strange because I thought it would be like I want to be anybody you stand I want to be Michael Jackson I want to be yeah it wasn't it was like Quincy Jones and Denzel Washington and you know Spike Lee and Oprah Winfrey and you know Steven Bochco and John Wells and you know Steven Spielberg and it was like wait wait wait wait hold up this doesn't have anything to do with what I'm doing right now because these people are visionaries these people are moguls and I can't get an audition for a role on a show with five lines I can't even get an audition like how am I gonna get to that but the moment that I spoke it you know we speak what we are we speak into existence what we need and what we want if you say you can't you won't if you say you you know if you say I I can't you won't I mean it's just it's just I'm living proof that we speak who we are and I called this up you know because I was in this big and I was frustrated and I couldn't get any headway in the film and television part of it even after the Tony in the Grammy which is when eyes are on you you know and I was very very very very frustrated with it and you know all of a sudden after years and years of calling this man our you know because I put him on my vision board I looked at the landscape but I was like well Ryan Murphy is the only [ __ ] that's gonna understand me because he got Jessica Lange you know he got all the divas so he understands how to deal with divas he knows he knows how to write for us he knows what our strengths are you know like all of those things so I so I started you know I thought I'm just gonna put him on my vision board I started writing him in my journal I started talking about it to people I want to work with Ryan Murphy I want to work with Brad Murphy now all of a sudden I could it's like Ryan's doing a show about the ball culture and this was the day I had a nervous breakdown with my sister on the phone was during pilot sees it was during pilot season I have a nervous breakdown with her you know pulled the car over to the side of the road and everything and then I got this call and I just thought oh my god this is it this is what I asked for like whatever it is and they had called me in for the wrong part and I knew it even then I was like that's not the part but this is it mmm it's so funny hearing you say that because I don't have a vision board I wish I did I'm gonna start one but I believe that you manifest things in your life you know and one of the things that I have loved about my very bizarre strange career where I've been so blessed is that I have somehow figured out recently what my what why I might why am I here and the answer to that is because I think I am here and to to manifest a feeling that I have had since I was born well I never felt that I fit in no matter how successful I've been no matter what I've won no matter anything I have never felt that I belonged and I think that the reason how I feel I belong is when I take in my shows people individuals who are marginalized to are on the outskirts and make them the story yes make them the mainstream yes and I wrote him down because I thought that God but you say that about me and I remember when we were casting I kept coming back to your name and I didn't know why other than I think you're one of the most talented people I've ever seen perform but I realize it now after all of his time was that I was looking for a teacher and you had become that to me and I'll tell you why [Applause] I was looking for a teacher I was looking for someone brave to show me the way about things that I have struggled with and this is the perfect story so we're working and Billy had not yet become you know and a wind tore his best friend yet and he said you know I got this offer for this job and I think I'm gonna take it I'm like what are you talking about and he said they asked me to go on to the Oscars and to you know talk to people on the red carpet I said well that could be fun you know that could be fun I really didn't know what it was going to be and he said I'm gonna wear this and he clicked on his phone and he showed me a picture of him in a ball gown and I remember thinking two things you're never going to be brave enough to wear that and I want to wear that and and I remember thinking wow if he does this maybe you can wear it maybe you won't be gay bashed walking down the street you know maybe you can be show a side of you that you feel uncomfortable to see which was a very moving moment for me I was always constantly afraid and in the shadows and I think in we're still we're gonna jump towards this cultural phenomenon that Billy Porter has become where he really has changed culture and you can see it this fall with all the designers being inspired by him and I think so many young people are have permission to express who they are because of that moment which was a risk with what you did so talk about that the ballgown moment that is just then it's only been less than six months but months but the effect of that and what you've done along with your work has been seismic I think in the culture well that part of it decides my part of it is a bit of a surprise to me you know it was really simple you know for me in terms of how it how it came to be you know I was watching I was trying to my business sense together right so I've been looking at things from well how how I'm a business and how do i market myself and how do i brand myself and so I was watching the Oscars with a bunch of friends and it was the year idina menzel had frozen and she's a friend of mine she's a good friend of mine and you know John Travolta said her name wrong and I remember looking at the screen and going oh my god she just became a superstar everyone in the world will be saying her name everybody will know her name because he said it wrong at the Super Bowl of the arch where every I was watching it I need somebody to say my name wrong on so you log that in the back of my brain right so then you fast forward to this award season I don't there's nothing inside of me that thinks anything about an Oscar is gonna happen like I'm not it's I'm not thinking about that in any way so I get this telephone call it's during Fashion Week and I'm going well you know I used to always say with my girlfriends when we were watching the Oscars armature I might just wear a gown [ __ ] it i'ma wear a gown I know it's good you know but I'm just gonna do it you know the boys are always so boring they only get to wear tuxes they don't ever get to play and I want to wear a gown so I'm gonna do really sort of kind of joking right and then this call came in and as I was watching the Christian Siriano show I realized oh my god I have to wear a ball gown like I have to wear it this is the moment that's my dust my idina menzel he said my name wrong moment you know there was intention behind it make no mistake there was intention behind it I knew that there would be eyes on me and I knew that being in that garment would create a conversation I knew that I didn't know it was gonna be this but I did know that it would create a conversation and so I went to the party the after-party with Christian we were dancing on the dance floor and I was like okay [ __ ] look I'm going to the Oscars I'm gonna be interviewing people on the red carpet and [ __ ] I want you to make me a ballgown and he just wear what he said yes yes yes I was like we only have two weeks he's like I don't care I don't care have you have Sam call me my stylist have Sam call me on Monday we're doing this we doing this we doing this and that's how it happened you know it was really sort of organic you know my thought was I didn't know how how it would work but I thought oh you know if they start on you know if they do a cut here you know it would look like I was in a tux and then they could pull out and I'll slay the kid now I would tell you know i'ma tell a little story about this one because right before all of this you know we had a little lunch he mapped out what you know he mapped out what his plans were for me we had great conversations and one of the things he said I'm gonna need you to sit on your throne and I was like okay it's really he texted me I said [ __ ] you told me to sit on my throne you ain't got to ask me twice so since we're on this topic of fashion so then the next thing we know we get invited to them at the Met Gala and who stole the show there Billy Porter you know when they're very very very strict at the Met Gala I went as Liberace I asked you to have a pink poodle as a prop they said no which I totally get because it's chaos but Billy has to be carried in on a throne I didn't ask my stylist asked and it was the quickest yes in the history of so what was that like to dip I remember seeing you that night you know and it's a very out-of-body experience but you were the person that everybody in that room wanted to come up to and he's just either say thank you or how amazing for you or can we go to lunch like you had just become like I said a cultural thing what was that like for you you know it's really that question comes up a lot what does it feel like what is it like it's a really hard question to answer you know because you have to be present you have to be grounded and you have to be prepared to continue the work which is the reason why all of this [ __ ] is happening in the first place so if you get caught up in the feeling of how it feels then everything else around you crumbles and suffers mm-hmm right so I have not stopped literally from the Golden Globes to today I'm directing a play in Boston I got on a plane I was in rehearsal at 7:30 this morning and I got on a plane at 2:30 and I'm here and I go back tomorrow morning to go back to hours all like so and I only say that because that's what the work is that's what's required of me so the feeling is grateful the feeling is amazing the feeling is thank you Jesus and let's keep it moving you know cuz I got to go to work yeah you know so it's it's it's interesting because I don't know it's sometimes it feels like there's an expectation of like oh you know it's like skipping through the poppy fields and that you know like I don't know it's you know it's it's out-of-body really it's out-of-body I don't feel like my husband chooses it my husband just said to me today it's like you know I showed him a picture of you know our our stuff on a billboard on Hollywood Boulevard I said somebody sent this to me he said what are you gonna what are you gonna get used to the fact that you're on billboard like when you're you act surprised that you're on a billboard it's like well it's not surprise it's just like what's gratitude it's gratitude it's like wow I mean like this is where I always wanted to be this is what I always wanted to do and don't mistake you know the naivete of being young and wanting to be a star was replaced with intention it was replaced with how can I be of service mm-hmm I got that [ __ ] from Oprah and Maya Angelou true how can I be of service you know so then when I started living my life inside of that kind of intention to then have this happen as a result it's like alright that's what they said what happened this is what they said what happened this is what the people who do this said what happened and you also you know it's not just been a journey it's been a life I mean the amazing thing about you that I think is so overwhelming is you know you're gonna turn 50 I think the night before the Emmy oh yes I am I'll be 50 September 21st there you go so I mean that that must feel something got figured out yeah I think you know what I know is that there is a calling on my life I know it sounds of the booger but I'm a very spiritual person there has always been a calling I've always felt like I was here for a reason you know I always felt like this authenticity person is the ministry you know talking Church top those of us who've been in a church you know that the way we talk about intention the way we talk about sort of making our mark or being of service you know it's a very very spiritual thing and I do not take it for granted you know and so being 50 I could not have I could not be standing here sitting here with you as present and as available as I am had I not gone through all that other stuff to get here yeah you know all that stuff that was so frustrating and boring and you know tiring and whatever crazy-making prepared me for this moment right now you know because I don't know how people do it who don't have 50 years of life experience behind them that's why everybody goes crazy it's insane how it comes out you it just it comes at you and it's like you know you must be in a space where you can stand flat-footed and breathe and open up your arms and be available for what you're here for write what you know which leads me to you know I was talking about pose which has been such an amazing thing you know when we first Stephan and Brad and I when we first sold that show everybody was very very supportive but I think that there was an idea like okay well it's gonna be small and it's gonna be niche and that's what LGBTQ stuff is and just be prepared and I always said that's not true I always knew that that it would touch a chord because in my life in my writing and my work and my directing what I think is the more specific you are the more universal yeah absolutely so what do you feel like our show keeps growing and building and it would talk about that what's what do you what are you hearing what's your vibe and why people are so moved by it well the first thing I know for sure is that it's about family it's a family drama the world needs to see what unconventional families look like they need to understand yes they need to understand that family is not simply blood it's not simply blood you know that is that's the family you were born into that's your blood but when the definition of family means support when the definition family means your your base your grounding your life the people who you go to on the day-to-day very often for for those of us gay folks those are people we choose and so our show is about family chosen family and that's just as important if not more important than blood that's the first thing the second thing is the obvious part of the you know largest LGBTQ transgender caste blah blah blah people of color yes yes yes yes yes all of that stuff did that so that's another component the history making it the history making aspect of the show so I know that people are really in touch with that and then you know the aspirational what I love about you know how you guys have have have created the show is that it's not AIDS porn it's not LGBTQ porn you know sadness porn it's it's aspirational it's about a group of people who choose life in the face of the darkest and most definite of circumstances they choose life anyway and so can you you know it's so my last my last question before we take some questions from the audience's you know we've always talked about the Ark of pose being about sort of that period dealing with the HIV in the AIDS crisis and we know that the show will end in 1996 the year 1996 so what what do you wish the most for for pray tell what do you want to happen to him the most well I would love for pray tell to find love and be able to hold on to it I think one of the things that those of us who grew up in that era have is you know we have PTSD you know we know how to fight but we don't know how to live and the people who were supposed to teach us how to do that died in a plague so like I found my you know it's not it's not surprising to me that I you know finally got married two and a half years ago you know I finally got to a place where I can actually have a relationship with somebody because we didn't understand how to do that you know so I would love to show that trajectory I would love to sort of have a narrative that speaks to that especially in that time too and then you know I would love to be a for prey tail to be able to crack open the conversation between the LGBTQ community and the black church you know it's like we're not having it it's the same thing you know somebody just called my mother the other day last week talking about oh I'm so sorry it must be so hard that your son is gay still today that was last week that's what we're still dealing with that's the [ __ ] we're still dealing with because when I say it comes at you like this you know it's like you've got to be kidding me you know with all of the with all of the things that are happening in this world that's still the thing what did she say she said don't worry about me get off my phone my side of my son she's like you're ridiculous she you know and my mom has come a mighty long way you know but we're placed in their lives for a reason that's the point it's the very thing that you hate is the [ __ ] that's gonna be placed right in front of you for you to deal with I know I feel that with my six-year-old who's really into football Jesus Christ really we talk about jewelry no no oh it sounds like we have season three all figured out we need gospel music I'm supposed to leave the thing with a choir yes we do thank you very much all right we have some questions we have many questions here Billy what were you doing when you found out you received an Emmy nomination this year as the first openly openly gay man from Reggie what was I doing I was vacationing in p-town it was bare week me and my husband was there enjoying the Bears and I was we were gonna have some people over for lunch and so I was marinating some chicken and I had the phone right on the counter you know and I thought okay and I turned it over and I was like alright if it starts buzzing something's that's a good thing but then I started thinking but if it could be buzzing because people are calling with sympathies you know it's weird because I don't really I don't really live in that space until right before the space we were out on Monday night cuz I had totally forgotten and we were out on Monday night the night before and I turned to my husband I was like oh [ __ ] those Emmy nominations come [Applause] he was like alright let's just go out let's just go out and dance it off so they said your name and you felt I didn't I didn't I don't watch it okay so you got somebody called me and they said you're in and I felt raised the Lord thank you that part is over now I can marinate my chicken a really good and go back to the good day have some cocktails yes well the thing I love about you is that you you really do celebrate it and you take none of it for granted just an amazing yeah this is a question to both of us it says posed gives a spotlight to LGBTQ youth in the 80s what advice would you give to a gay twenty-something year old living in New York City in today's New York Anthony 25 my advice is date everybody that's my advice truly the thing that I would say that I felt is that I was so hard on myself and I thought that I had I had to have it all figured out like you know I thought I had to figure out know who I was and know who I was gonna hopefully be with and I didn't have a lot of fun and I had a lot of worry I actually didn't sell my first screenplay until I was 32 years old so if I wish I had been more exploratory that I had been more kind they´ll had been more open to experiences instead of you know I think there's so much rigidity with young people because you know you see it with the Instagram culture all the things that you're not having I wish I would have enjoyed my skin tone a lot better and that idea that you that period of your life is about I think and I think you and I both know this is about exploring yeah and and being kind and into yourself and yes and it's okay to fail it's okay to try you know what what about for you um I would say something that's very similar to that which is just jump off the ledge just jump off the ledge you know there's no better time in the present nobody's gonna give you anything fight for it jump off the ledge fight for it and speak life into yourself and find a group of like like-minded people that can be your guide in your family yeah find your family another question for both of us is there a person or event that gave you the confidence strength and courage that what you wanted to do was right and you win for it was there a moment that gave you that moment Billy a person they gave you the moment I would say that it happened around the sixth grade I went to rise instead in middle school I was bussed there there were after-school programs still before they took him all the way and there was an after-school program called rises to musical theater and I didn't know what a musical was but they explained to us what it was I auditioned the production was babes in arms Rogers hearts babes in arms there were like a hundred people in the show it was like it literally was like Glee it was totally like Glee and everybody wanted to be in the show and I didn't know what this was and every single solitary role was double cast supposed to be double cast and when the sign went up every role was double cast except me and for the first time in my life I was like I'm not the last one picked this feels like the first one picked to me you know it was just like wait cuz I knew I could thing I was singing in church it was like oh oh so this you know this is the golden ticket right here if I can keep doing this at home.this then I can get the [ __ ] out of here I would say for me it was probably when I was a similar age maybe a little younger and it was my grandmother and I came from a big group of Irish Catholics there were a lot of us cousins and I was the only gay child I was the only quiet child I was the only non athletic child in it when I was very close with my grandmother and at one point she pulled me aside and she said I just want to tell you something and I said what and she said you're different and that's why you're the most special out of all of these kids to me and she said so let me tell you something what are three things that you're interested in and you and I are gonna do those things and I said really and she said yes what are they and I said Dracula Barbra Streisand and skincare [Music] and my grandmother said I get it and she put me in a car and we went to a drug store and she bought me my own jar of Noxzema and we went to see Barbra Streisand in funny lady so that moment on I was like maybe there is a way for me to be me and not be ashamed yeah very powerful yes very much so and there's a second part of this question which is for you Billie which is at the ball so your lines mostly scripted or improv all right so our writers are [ __ ] brilliant and they write it out like I start with a really really really strong base and then we see that then the next component is the staging of the scene where you actually see the people and you see them the costumes that they're talking about in the script so things shift a little bit around in that moment and then they start shooting and they shoot away from me first and I'm so glad that we fell into that because I was doing kinky boots when we were filming the pilot and they had to shoot me out by three three or four every day so what would happen is they would clear the room and then I would do all of my my stuff without the room there so they could get it on camera and it turned out to be a really really great great way of doing it and you know cutting time off of the day and for me being able to focus and and you know craft the character so the first day we came in the first day we started you know I was I was prepared I'm Shakespeare trained I knew all my lines I knew them for verbatim and this one is like okay so I'm gonna need you to ad-lib and you know I don't consider myself a Saturday Night Live kind of thing like I'm not a you know I'm not I don't consider myself that once again I will jump off the ledge but like that I didn't I don't think that that's one of my strengths and so they have a so the script is there and then they have a consultant Jack Mizrahi who is an actual emcee so he'll come in and look at everybody and he'll write down some ideas he'll scroll out some some ideas and so I have my little podium and I have everything there and then once we're once we're in the rhythm of it and we do a lot of shooting and we find the rhythm and I start to find what it is then they turn the camera around on me and by that point I have really worked it up put the pieces together you know like most of my ad-libs come inside of the transitions from one thing to another I transition in the ideas and so a lot of what I find I didn't think everybody you know and then you start watching it it's like know every single thing I say is up in that [ __ ] everything is everything I say they use all my ad-libs I guess mine lives all right yeah they're good they're always good so question Billy at what point in your career did you think to yourself I'm a star I've made it I don't really think like that I really don't think like that but right now I think I've made it that doesn't mean that it ends but you know the story about you know last year he Ryan called me and you know we went to dinner and he said okay so I'm gonna need you to lean in to the joy you know I know it's been hard but you ain't got to worry about none of that no more I got you Hey so I have arrived this is a question for me which was was it hard to sell pose to FX no I'm at a point in my career where I can kind of say I would like to do X and people will for the most part listen that's what I want but when I was younger you know I had this idea that I would march in and say I'm gonna do this and I struggled with that for the beginning of my career which is something I tell young people I was always adamant about having the last word and fighting and fighting and fighting and things shifted from me when I would say my passion and then say and what do you think and let people feel that they are a part of something so in the case of pose I didn't go in and even though it's in my contract and you know I get final cut and all that stuff which I don't believe in because I like notes and I like and put in I like feedback because I want people to who are working on it to feel that they have ownership in it too and I think I learned that so what I did with with this show is I went in and I talked about why I was interested in it and I talked about the themes that I talked about the feelings of being marginalized that I talked about having gone through the HIV crisis as a young person and how I would drive to the hospital and be tested every two weeks and really understanding what that was about and then I asked the executives to talk about what do you like about this idea so together we crafted it and that's how it happened and it was it was a remarkable thing and the thing that I was Adam about adamant about when I sold it which was okay if we're gonna make this show and this show is on a mainstream network we're not gonna spend a dollar 99 on the advertisements and the posters because so many times in my experience what I found is when you make this quote-unquote LGBTQ constant that content they say okay and they pat you on the head and they like to put it out in the world but they won't support it and I said I'm gonna make this only if you give it the advertising budget you gave AJ and they said they would and they did and that to me was where I was like okay I like I like this power thing yep it feels good and I think in doing that you you you really say to the world something this is something to watch this is something a major corporation believes in you know very different from when we started out absolutely um this is the second part of that question which was also hilarious which says how does pray tell pays rent [Laughter] [Applause] well pray tell is a perfume spritzer at Macy's [Applause] that's what the original script was that's what we were working on originally you know I'll know [Laughter] [Applause] I will say this is the thing about this show we've had first season was eight episodes and we're always like well let's go to Macy's and show pre tells spritzing unimportant it's like okay unimportant it's it's it's not important it's interesting in terms of what I'm interested in doing is showing is showing it as an arc and a lot of the first two seasons that we've done have been about I think dealing with the crisis dealing with the ballroom scene and I think people have noticed it's the second season has gone along you know a little bit about the backstory so what I have been saving it for is I'm really interested in this idea that pray tell spritzes cologne and um is that and and is you know making money and is making money I'm seeing the balls and his keeping his hand in but but someone in the spritzing world sees how you look and says you should be a designer pray tell so that you get the idea of I never thought I could do that I thought I could only be this but I can actually be that I'm interested so we will be doing that there's glimmers of that in in season one yeah so we're gonna we're gonna do that and we're also gonna have pray tell go to church and Billy's gonna be directing right that's right yes you are I just have to remind you know this is me reminding you don't have to remind remind me Billy I feel you this is for both of us two more questions do you feel that the show was at all inspired by the current state of trumps America I can say that I I don't like to talk about Trump too much there was one point in the first season where we actually had him have a cameo because there was characters who played that they worked in the Trump Organization it's like I really don't want to see his face I just don't want to see it so we got rid of that what i what i am interested in and i think that you'll agree what i have an obligation to do is it's a very it's a period piece or show but you know i think we came out of a period of eight years under president obama where we thought okay well that struggle is over now we got through something we're good now and what I feel is we're not and particularly we're dealing with our trans storylines that community is so under fire and having rights taken away left and right so I feel like we're writing to what's happening currently even though it's a period in our way with with the best thing we can do I think on a TV show is is be an eye opener if you see someone on television if that character can be your friend it creates empathy in the world and I feel like that's what we're trying to do with eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty Frederick Douglass said that that's what this show is about those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it so what we get to do with pose is remind the world that we [ __ ] win we win it may take some time but we win love wins we've been through this before we've seen it before how it's time to get out in these streets and fight for what we know is right which leads me to our last question for both of us do you feel that pose is a healing thing yes it's definitely for me you know just going back to the idea of living through that crisis right and then you know it was just terror terror terror terror every day every single day I see friends in this audience who I went through it with every single day was like terror and then anti rock and antiviral drugs came and it was over and everybody moved on you know and this brings us back to a time that is a bit forgotten and I had friends called me last year when I pray tell was diagnosed and they said you know I was a very specific friend and he said baby I I didn't know that I hadn't even mourned because it went away so fast until I saw that scene and he said I cried for three days it is so healing because once again representation we were here people were here and people died they laid down their lives their lives were taken away from them so that we could be here doing what we're doing so it is it's been very healing for me in that way but because to be as an as an artist and as an actor to be a part of that and to be able to sort of show that narrative through the work it's really very healing yes I feel the same way I feel like it's it's the great joy of my career this show that what I what I am amazed by I'm so proud of back to to end our conversation 20 years ago not being able to have a gay character and and you know to go from that to creating this show having this show so loved and supported by the network FX that has it on there they put everything into this show they they love it they support it and then there's another another level where it's on Netflix and this show is beamed into 100 countries in the world and 175 million people have access to the show and many of those people who are able to watch this show feel like they are alone ya feel like they don't have a voice and they feel unseen and this show I think is healing because it says to those people we see you we remember you we are here for you you're not alone and I will conclude by saying I feel the same way about you mr. Porter did I see you and I love you and I think what you've done these past couple of years is extraordinary and you really are a national treasure [Applause] you [Applause]

Channel: 92nd Street Y

Views: 73,599

Rating: 4.9306831 out of 5

Keywords: 92Y, 92nd Street Y, lgbtq, ballroom, hiv/aids, pose, billy porter, ryan murphy, vogue

Id: lpp9mmQo5b0

Length: 60min 20sec (3620 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 15 2019