“Transparent” alumna Alexandra Billings is set to star in and exec produce “Queen Tut.” Described by Deadline as a “trans revolutionary indie feature,” the project is being helmed by Reem Morsi (“The Last Mark”).
“Queen Tut” follows “a shy Egyptian teenager who is discovering a new life in Toronto after his seamstress mother passes away in Cairo. He befriends a trans mother, played by Billings, who inspires him to resurrect his mother’s soul in himself by sewing and donning the magnum opus dress that she never completed making,” per the source.
“This is a film about family. About chosen family and birthed family and the historic value of queer revolution. Generational dialogue is a spiritual experience and every character resonates with a profound sense of beauty, power, and hope,” said Billings. “This is the Trans experience; Handed down from one human to the next. And whether that family is blood or whether that family is a divine intervention, when we are all part of the telling of each other’s experience, humanity blossoms. I am deeply honored to be a part of this.”
Fae Pictures is producing in association with Hawkeye Pictures and the participation of Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates. Deadline notes that “the producing team will be attending the Cannes Market meeting with international sales prospects.”
Billings’ credits include “The Conners,” “Never Have I Ever,” and “Goliath.” She made history as the first trans actor to star in “Wicked.” She played played the role of Madame Morrible. “I’m not just the first to do whatever, the conversation is now opening in a way that is brand new,” she told Gay Times. “Everyone who comes to see ‘Wicked,’ so grandparents, uncles, cousins, and kids that are seven through to 90. In the cab or Uber or train home, somebody is going to have to have a conversation about the brown trans lady in the show. That’s extraordinary and that surpasses my ego, that surpasses the role, that surpasses the show itself,” she emphasized.