BILLY PORTER

The Pose star talks Jordan Peele and The Twilight Zone

When Billy Porter laughs, the whole room lights up. Except in this case, the whole Zoom lights up, because we’re in the middle of a pandemic and Porter is doing an hour of press from the comfort of his home in New York. “I feel like this whole experience is a global reset,” the actor laments. “What we’re living through right now is weird. It’s disturbing and unnerving. I don’t know what else to say about it. It’s like we’re living in The Twilight Zone.”

Those last three words are rather apt seeing that we’re on Zoom to talk about Porter’s role in a new episode of Jordan Peele’s rebooted anthology series. The Emmy Award-winning actor and singer plays a clairvoyant called Keith in a body-swapping episode of the second season titled “The Who Of You”. Before more contagious laughter bursts through the airwaves, we quickly rattle off a few questions to the star of Pose and American Horror Story.

With everything that’s happened in 2020, are we living in the real world?

No, this is The Twilight Zone. Our humanity is on the line right now. It’s been called into question in our generation unlike we’ve seen in generations and generations. As a species, we are going through a transformative time. It’s a transition. It’s a referendum on good and evil, it really is. And it’s not just in America, but all around the world.

I am inspired right now in a way that I haven’t been before. Because of our access to social media and reality television, I was afraid that we have been desensitised to the horrific images that once fuelled movements. The civil rights movement was fuelled by the way that the leaders manipulated the media. The LGBTQ and AIDS activism movement was fuelled by how the media was used. And I was afraid that we had lost the impact of what those images do and how those images can transform public opinion. To have it reunited through the George Floyd incident and to see people on the streets again has been encouraging and inspiring – and it brings me so much hope.

What are your earliest memories of The Twilight Zone?

I have always loved it. When I was growing up, there were three television stations and they all went off the air at around 2am. One of those stations played The Twilight Zone right before it shut off for the night and I would often watch the show when I couldn’t sleep. I grew up religious. I grew up in the Pentecostal church where the Bible is used as parable and as metaphor to teach us and show us different morals and different ways to move through life. It’s used to teach us good versus evil and moral versus immoral. The Twilight Zone always moved me because it felt like an extension of that brand of parable-like storytelling.

What makes it stand apart from other sci-fi shows?

What I love about The Twilight Zone is the fact that the show is told in metaphor. It’s told in parable and it holds a mirror up to society. It makes us reflect on the different kinds of choices that we make, be they good or be they not so good. Hopefully, as art does, it helps us to change ourselves. I know I come away with a different outlook every time I watch an episode. That’s what art has the power to do, and The Twilight Zone does it in spades.

What’s special about the rebooted version of the show?

I love the fact that they brought the same spirit of the original series over to this new version of the show. It’s really cool to see it modernised in this way, along with new issues that we face in our modern culture. And I love that it’s Jordan Peele. The first version of The Twilight Zone was very white, and I am very grateful that this version really reflects what the world looks like today vis-à-vis casting and all the different types of cross sections of colours are represented. I think that’s fabulous.

What do you think of Jordan Peele’s work in this genre?

Jordan Peele is a huge inspiration to me. He was not on set when I was there, but I love his presence and what he has done with this particular genre. My mind was blown by Get Out. That’s my favourite Jordan Peele movie. I have a white husband, and as a black man living in the world, my mind was blown.

What does sci-fi and fantasy mean to you?

I love fantasy and sci-fi, but I’m not a fan who goes to conventions. However, I’m straight to the theatre whenever a good superhero movie comes out. I’m there. I love fantasy. I’ve always wanted to be in it!

The Twilight Zone is streaming on CBS All Access in the US now and is due on Syfy UK/Now TV, date TBC.