Billy Porter on Christmas Karma’s camp and chaotic cast: ‘Pixie Lott is divine’

Christmas is all about bringing folk together, be it family from near and far, communities from different faiths, queer people and, begrudgingly, their right-wing aunts and uncles, or, erm, Billy Porter, Danny Dyer and Pixie Lott.

Christmas Karma, the new festive film from Gurinder Chadha – the director behind queer football favourite Bend It Like Beckham – is a meeting of actors, cultures and characters so unlikely that the result is as camp as Christmas.

The Bollywood-inspired musical remake of Charles Dickens’ 1843 novel A Christmas Carol follows The Big Bang Theory star Kunal Nayyar as Mr Sood, a re-imagined version of the famously bah humbug Ebenezer Scrooge. 

Following a similar trajectory to Scrooge, the right-leaning Mr Sood is transformed from an irascible and selfish multi-millionaire businessman after a midnight visit from four ghosts: Paddingston star Hugh Bonneville as Mr Sood’s late business partner Jacob Marley, Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Pose actor Billy Porter as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and ‘80s pop star Boy George as the Ghost of Christmas Future.

The wildly eclectic cast also includes EastEnders’ hard nut Danny Dyer as a singing cab driver, Vikings: Valhalla actor Leo Suter as Mr Sood’s undervalued business assistant Bob, and British singer Pixie Lott as his wife Bea. 

There’s also appearances from Layla actor Bilal Hasna as a young Mr Sood, Bridgerton star Charithra Chandran as his young love interest, and Dyer’s fellow EastEnders stars Tracy-Ann Oberman and Nitin Ganatra.

The music is by Take That star Gary Barlow, with some fittingly festive (and other not-so-festive) performances by the likes of Eve and Lady Leshurr. It’s quite the cast.

As one of just two Americans on the cast list, Billy Porter didn’t know quite how big the British legends he was working with are.

“I did not know anything about them. I didn’t know anything about anybody,” he tells PinkNews ahead of the film’s cinema release on 14 November.

“Gurinder called me, reached out to me to do it. I read the script. I loved it and I just showed up, and that’s the best way to do it. You know, on the job training. I didn’t get to work with Danny [Dyer] but I had been seeing his poster in the subway – in the Tube, excuse me – and he’s great. Of course, Pixie is just divine.”

Bonneville, known for his roles in British institutions including Paddington and Downton Abbey, was of course aware of the British icons he was working alongside. “He’s a legend in so many ways in Britain,” he tells Porter of Danny Dyer, sitting next to his co-star surrounded by presents in a flash London hotel.

“And his singing, of course, is now known to the public and I predict a Christmas number one!”

So how do three actors (and sort of actor Boy George) with wildly different CVs end up being cast as ghosts in a Christmas film? 

“To be honest, I had just been unceremoniously scrapped from another movie and the very next day I got an email from Gurinder, asking me to be in this film,” Porter explains, adding that it was quite the bit of Christmas karma. “It’s exactly where I needed to be. The other thing had to move out of the way so that I could be a part of this extraordinary retelling of this classic.”

As for Bonneville, he jokes that he owed Gurinder some money from a dinner a decade ago, and considered taking the Christmas Karma role as paying off his debt.

“Having worked with her, I know what a passionate creature she is. Then it comes across in every line of the script how much this means to her. So to turn up for a day and pay homage to the great Gurinda was a pleasure.”

While Christmas Karma has all the Christmas spirit of other cherished festive films, including plenty of singing, dancing, and London splashed in decorations, there’s a much deeper message behind it, too.

During his time with the Ghost of Christmas Past, we learn that Mr Sood was a child when he was one of 28,000 Ugandan Asian refugees who were forced to come to the UK in 1972 after being displaced from Uganda by military dictator Idi Amin. He exodised up to 80,000 people of Asian descent from the country over just 90 days.

The film portrays part of Mr Sood’s misery as relating to his experience of displacement and anti-immigration sentiment when he arrived in the UK; a topic which feels particularly pertinent given the rise in anti-immigration rhetoric and September’s right-wing ‘Unite The Kingdom’ rally in London.

Both Porter and Bonneville are full of compliments for how Chadha balanced gravitas and pathos with Christmas joy.

“Knowing her a little bit as I do, and knowing Paul [Mayeda Berges] her husband with whom she writes, this story is in her DNA – obviously, literally. Her roots are very much on display and her life experience is on display,” Bonneville says.

“But it’s there in the story of Charles Dickens. It is about accepting the otherness of people and asking yourself what can you do to help their lives improve rather than being selfish. It’s as simple as that.

“Her take on it is just a retelling of this familiar story, but it always bears the retelling because we always sadly need reminding of it.”

“Sadly, we do need reminding of it,” Porter agrees. “Art has the power to heal trauma, heal disappointment. That’s why I love being an artist so much. This is a real example of the craft of that. It takes a particular kind of artist to be able to have the uncomfortable conversations inside of being wildly entertaining at the same time.”

As for how they will be spending their own Christmases, Porter, who was recently recovering from sepsis, is “looking forward to resting”.

“I have some rest time coming up. I get to spend Christmas with my new man,” he smiles, referencing his new relationship with boyfriend Eric Anderson, two years after finalising his divorce from Adam Smith.

“We will be going shopping for our ugly Christmas jumpers,” he promises. And yes, they will be matching.

Christmas Karma is in cinemas from 14 November.

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