''Anything's Possible'' is a 2022 American

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by Billy Porter and written by

Ximena García Lecuona Ximena García Lecuona is a Mexican–American screenwriter and film producer. She is best known for writing the 2022 American coming-of-age romantic comedy film '' Anything's Possible''. Biography García Lecuona was born and raised in Mexico ...

. The film was released on July 22, 2022, on

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

Plot

When Khal develops a crush on his high school classmate Kelsa, a confident girl who happens to be trans, he musters up the courage to ask her out and a romance ensues.

Cast

* Eva Reign as Kelsa * Abubakr Ali as Khal *

Renée Elise Goldsberry Renée Elise Goldsberry (born January 2, 1971) is an American actress and singer known for originating the role of Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway musical ''Hamilton'', for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musica ...

as Selene * Courtnee Carter as Em * Kelly Lamor Wilson as Chris * Grant Reynolds as Otis * Caroline Travers as Molly * Lav Raman as Shivani * Tordy Clark as Minty Fresh * Noah Pacht as Chance

Production

Development

In November 2020, it was revealed that actor Billy Porter would be making his feature directorial debut with ''What If?'', from a screenplay by

, which appeared on the 2020 Black List and the 2019

GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...

List. The film would mark the start of

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

's relaunch of Orion Pictures and deal with

Killer Films Killer Films is a New York City-based independent film production company founded by movie producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler in 1995. The company has produced a number of the most acclaimed American independent films over the past tw ...

. The premise has been compared to the likes of '' Love, Simon'' and ''

Booksmart ''Booksmart'' is a 2019 American comedy film directed by Olivia Wilde (in her feature directorial debut) and written by Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, and Katie Silberman. It stars Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever as two grad ...

''. Porter had been approached by the producers to direct. He agreed to sign on 30 pages into the script upon realizing the film would be set in his hometown of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. It was produced by

Christine Vachon Christine Vachon (; born November 21, 1962) is an American film producer active in the American independent film sector. Christine Vachon produced Todd Haynes' first feature, ''Poison'', which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundan ...

and David Hinojosa of

and Andrew Lauren and D.J. Gugenheim of Andrew Lauren Productions. In April 2022, it was announced the film was re-titled ''Anything's Possible''.

Casting

It was announced in April 2021 that

Yasmin Finney Yasmin Finney (born 30 August 2003) is an English actress. She is known for her role as Elle Argent in the Netflix series '' Heartstopper'' (2022), for which she was nominated for a Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting P ...

would star as Kelsa. Porter stated he hoped to "populate" the cast with a lot of "true, authentic Pittsburgh people". In July 2021, Eva Reign, Abubakr Ali,

, Courtnee Carter, Kelly Lamor Wilson and Grant Reynolds joined the cast of the film, with Reign replacing Finney due to being unable to secure a visa.

Filming

Principal photography began in July 2021, on location in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas of

Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, covering the western third of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic ...

Release

Originally intended for a theatrical release, it was announced on May 17, 2022 that the film will be released on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

. On June 1, 2022, it was dated for July 22, 2022. Porter cited the struggles and failures of low-budget and non- MCU franchise films at the box office since the start of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and the streaming success of the 2021 adaptation of ''Cinderella'' (also a Prime Video release which he starred in) as the reasons for the decision. He went on to say "Eyeballs will be on it because you can watch it from your house. Honey, you can watch it from your phone if you want to. And that’s the audience that it’s for."

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

's March 17, 2022 acquisition of MGM also played a role in the film's move to a streaming release.

Reception

References

External links

* * {{AllMovie title 2022 directorial debut films 2022 LGBT-related films 2022 romantic comedy films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films African-American LGBT-related films Amazon Prime Video original films American coming-of-age comedy films American high school films American romantic comedy films American teen LGBT-related films Coming-of-age romance films Films about interracial romance Films about social media Films about trans women Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films produced by Christine Vachon Films set in Pittsburgh Films shot in Pittsburgh LGBT-related coming-of-age films LGBT-related romantic comedy films Killer Films films Orion Pictures films Transgender-related films