Eva Reign Got to Revisit Her Teenage Self With ‘Anything’s Possible’
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It's not every day that you get to turn on a movie and watch someone absolutely steal the entire thing. Actress Eva Reign brings that particular light to Anything's Possible, Billy Porter's directorial debut (which is, coincidentally, also Eva's feature film debut). The movie follows Kelsa, a high school girl who is trans, as she navigates the confusion of her senior year. Her character starts the school year by saying she definitely doesn't want a boyfriend, so naturally, a cute boy named Khal (played by Abubakr Ali) comes into her life to make her think twice about that.
All teenage relationships are complicated, and this one in particular has plenty of challenges. Transphobic friends and a viral video gone wrong are just a few of them. But the movie has a hopefulness that other stories about teenagers in the LGBTQ+ community don't, and it's incredibly refreshing. Cosmopolitan chatted with Eva about working through those aforementioned challenges on-screen, her chemistry her with co-star, and what she'd tell her 17-year-old self if she could go back in time.
What was the audition process like for the movie? This is your first feature film role!
My friend sent me an email and was like, Hey, I think you'd be perfect for this. I just saw: Billy Porter, directorial debut, MGM, looking for a trans lead. That first callback with Billy, I was sweating buckets. I was so nervous. I blacked out for most of it because Billy was saying so many amazing things to me. But I was just like, Oh my God. I'm talking to Billy Porter. That had to be the most nerve-wracking day of my life, and my roommates were listening in, and I kept hearing the door rattle. I was like, If y'all don't back up and not mess up my audition.
You said you got the call that you got this role and had to be on a flight to Pittsburgh for rehearsal literally the next day. How did you wrap your head around that?
I was freaking out a lot. I definitely didn't have any time to process it. I don't think it really sunk in until, maybe two, three weeks into shooting. I flew out before we started shooting, and Abu and I arrived at the same time. It was the both of us doing rehearsals, reading with each other. Billy and I had a lot of talks, although I mostly was just getting more and more overwhelmed whenever we spoke, because I was like, You're Billy Porter! What helped the most was calling my friends. I would FaceTime with my sister a lot. The cast was really awesome. Everybody was just there to help tell the story. And it was a lot of really positive energy. That was the best thing. I just had a really, really good people.
You and your co-star Abubakr have really great chemistry on-screen. How did you work to create that energy?
We have the same birthday, which I always bring up. We were both born on June 20, but different years. Having that synergy, I'm very into astrology and numerology and all of that stuff. I did look at our charts and see how we'd mesh, so that's a major part of it. Abu knows how to make me laugh, and then I know how to make fun of him. That really helped with Kelsa and Khal. Khal's this guy who is stumbling over himself and Kelsa's just watching him like, Okay, dude. Let's get this right.
Wait, I feel like most people read other people's charts for dating purposes, not work purposes. I might steal that practice.
During our first day where the whole cast was meeting, I was literally looking at everyone's chart. I was basically giving readings.
Speaking of Kelsa and Khal, I was struck by the scene where Kesla and Khal are being intimate for the first time and he asks, Was that okay? What do you like? And Kelsa responds and says I don't know yet. I wondered how you felt about that when you first read it on the page.
Billy really wanted to show teens who don't really have it all figured out yet. That's going to resonate for a lot of young people, period, whether they're trans or cis. This wasn't even Kelsa talking about dysphoria. It was just her being like, I don't know what I like. And that's all that really needs to be said. Khal respected that, and that's a really important moment too. I just hope that everyone who watches it knows that they do have agency over their own bodies, and also, when you are getting intimate with anyone, you have to meet them where they're at. And if you want to form a good relationship, that's what it's built off of. It's built off of trust. That might be one of my favorite scenes in the whole film.
I know this is a rom-com, but it's also very much a story about a mother and a daughter. How was working with Renee Elise Goldsberry and what did you learn from her?
Working with her was so much fun. I mentioned to her that I had been a fan since I saw her as Mimi in Rent. That's possibly my favorite musical. I feel like almost every queer person says I love Rent, but I really, really love Rent. To work with this Broadway star was super cool. We had a couple of talks about how we envisioned Kelsa and Selena's relationship. She would ask me questions about my mom, and what things looked like growing up and even now.
Did it feel cathartic to explore that teenage side of yourself through this character?
It did. For any person, trans or cis, your teen years are super formative. But when it comes to trans people, that was a time when a lot of us became hyperaware of how the world views us. I did tap into a lot of those moments. My cast-mates and I would talk about what high school was like for them, what it was like for me, and what it looked like when I was bullied, what it looked like when a guy had a crush on me.
Playing Kelsa really did feel like playing an alternate version of self. When I was Kelsa's age I was watching trans girls on YouTube and I wanted to make my own videos. There were a lot of moments with Kelsa where I was like, Okay, I actually think I need a second because this scene hit a little too close to home. It's one of those moments where you're acting and you're in it, but then it's not until the director says cut that you're like, Oh, okay. I went somewhere else with this. Or, I tapped into something I wasn't even aware of in that moment. Or I'd start to unearth a stored memory.
If you could go back in time and tell your 17-year-old self something after this experience, what would you say?
For one, I would say Do not text that boy. He is not worth it. Let him be, block his number. I'd probably say to try to have more fun. Don't take everything so seriously. I was deep, deep into yearbook, the school magazine. I was editor of both when I was a senior. And I really thought I was Miranda Priestly. I really thought I was that girl, which I was, but also, I was doing the most. Maybe don't use quite as much hair gel. I was always trying to define my curls more and it was just intense, and I look back at photos and I'm like, I look so crazy. And I didn't need to.
Watch Anything's Possible on Amazon Prime today
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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