Pose: exclusive new image realness

FX’s Pose celebrates the ball world of 1980s New York City. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, who co-created Glee and American Horror Story, were originally trying to adapt the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning into a series, but then discovered the script for Pose by young writer Steven Canals (Dead of Summer).

The 27-year-old actress has a few television and theater credits to her name, but Pose marks the biggest role of her career to date. “I would have never thought in a million years that something like this would be happening to a little ol’ girl from an urban area in north New Jersey who fought for her dream so long,” admits Rodriguez.

Moore had a memorable audition for the House of Evangelista member in front of Murphy. “The first thing that happened after I finished was, Ryan stood up and said, ‘I have nothing.’ And he sat down. I had absolutely no idea what that meant,” the-23 year-old recalls. “So then, you know, I see this like twinkle in his eye. I don’t know what it was, but I knew that there was something going on behind that. There was a smize. Yes, Ryan Murphy smized at me. Yes, he did.”

Tony winner Billy Porter (Kinky Boots) says he originally read to play the dance teacher in Pose (ultimately portrayed by Charlyane Woodard), but he had other ideas. “I was like, ‘Not when you’re doing the ball culture. It’s a waste of my time and yours.’ And I said it,” remembers Porter. “I said, ‘Look, I’ve lived this. I am this.’”

Peters has worked with Murphy and Falchuk on American Horror Story for all seven seasons and was drawn to the heart of Pose. Says the actor, “I loved the story, I loved the characters. But it was an opportunity to learn from the transgender community and to be an advocate for them. The story is beautiful because it’s fun, but it’s also very heartbreaking and shows how marginalized they are and discriminated against. You fall in love with the characters, and hopefully that will instill compassion in people.”

Writer-producer Janet Mock says that the cast’s own life experiences often helped feed and inspire plotlines for Pose. “We mine them for stories in a way, or hear things in passing conversations,” she explains. “Because a lot of them don’t have a lot of acting experience, we felt that using their personal experiences in themselves would probably be their greatest tool. We try to write toward that.”

Swain, who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, knows that this show has the potential to change lives and wishes he had it growing up. “I always cry when I think about it because I wish I had a Damon on screen to speak to the experiences I was dealing with and feeling isolated and marginalized,” says Swain, 24. “I think about how Damon is going to be powerful for a young queer person of color, or a queer person in general who’s trying to figure out their identity, and what that’s going to mean for someone who closes their door and watches Pose at 9 p.m. on Sundays and has to hide that from their families. This one is really, really going to touch the hearts of so many people.”

If there’s a villain of Pose, it’s definitely Stan’s boss at Trump Tower. Van Der Beek, who flirted with the dark side in 2002’s The Rules of Attraction, had always wanted to work with Ryan Murphy. Says the actor, “I heard what the role was — this crazy, coke-snorting example of just raging, toxic masculinity — I thought, ‘Absolutely, 100%, I’m in.’”

Mara, who plays Stan’s rightfully suspicous wife, previously appeared alongside Peters in the first season of American Horror Story. She says Pose’s universal messages are what made her reteam with Murphy, Falchuk, and Peters. “The thing that I love so much about the show is that, yes, you’ll be learning about this world, this culture, and these beautiful people that you don’t necessarily know a lot about. But at the end of the day, we are all really the same, you know? Like, we’re all searching for family and acceptance, and it doesn’t matter where we come from.”

To read more on Pose, pick up the special LGBTQ issue of Entertainment Weekly on stands Friday, or buy it here now. Don’t forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.