New role for Matt Bomer

Publisher’s description:

It’s 1950s Washington, D.C.: a world of bare-knuckled ideology and secret dossiers, dominated by personalities like Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and Joe McCarthy. Enter Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and devout Catholic eager to join the crusade against Communism. An encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim’s first job and, after Fuller’s advances, his first love affair. As McCarthy mounts a desperate bid for power and internal investigations focus on “sexual subversives” in the government, Tim and Fuller find it ever more dangerous to navigate their double lives. Moving between the diplomatic world of Foggy Bottom and NATO’s front line in Europe, Fellow Travelers is a searing historical novel infused with political drama, unexpected humor, and genuine heartbreak.

Foggy Bottom, that makes my ears perk up!

It's a classic story between an older gay man and a younger gay man (both closeted) set to all of the events of the time period.

The older one is slutty and experienced (and eventually married) and the younger one is naive. He makes the mistake of falling in love with the older one who will never settle down and spends a lot of time just using the younger one.

It's very Call Me By Your Name but to the tune of politics instead of a place in Italy.

Thanks R3. Sounds like something I might enjoy since I’m a political junkie.

Looking forward to it.

Poor Matt's been typecast to gay roles.

What’s wrong with that? Anyway, I thought gay roles should only be played by gay actors.

[quote] I thought gay roles should only be played by gay

And those faggots should stay in the closet!

It's a really good book! When it came out I remember thinking that it would make a great movie

Lindsey Graham will make a cameo as Roy Cohn

It was turned into an absolutely gorgeous opera that premiered in Cincinnati 5 years ago this summer. A recording taken from those performances was later released.

[quote]Poor Matt's been typecast to gay roles.

He's playing a straight guy in the Netflix series he's doing next/now. He was also smart enough to negotiate a producer's credit on this which means more money for him.

Anyone gay or straight would leap to work on a project written by the guy who wrote Philadelphia and the upcoming, much talked about My Policeman. Also as the article says, the production company did "The Mosquito Coast," "We Are Who We Are" and "Young Pope" which all got a lot of attention.

This could either be a great project or it could end up like "The Last Tycoon" which was boring as shit. The book got mostly positive reviews and the negatives usually related to the author focusing too much on history and being too wordy. It's not a happy ending book and they let you know that almost immediately.

The article says Bomer will play the older man, but it doesn’t say who will play the younger character.

He would be perfect in a series about a Madam Tussaud’s wax figure who comes to life and aspires to be a mediocre actor.

What twink will be playing Matt's love interest? Any suggestions?

I enjoyed the novel a lot. Mallon is a complicated person—politically a self-described conservative, but never seems remotely homophobic or self-loathing. Probably thinks of himself first and foremost as an historical novelist who focuses on stories about US politics. His novels do not take “partisan” positions, other than a respect for and also sometimes critical view of the American experiment.

[quote]It's very Call Me By Your Name but to the tune of politics instead of a place in Italy.

"Call Me by Your GS Number (until Eisenhower Takes It Away)." Speaking of which, I would not mind seeing Timmy in the younger role.

Timmy’s career is still ascendant. He still has a few years before he’s banished to TV.

I tried to read the book a few years ago but couldn’t get into it. Hopefully this will be better.

I don't know exactly what the question is, but my answer is "Connor Jessup."

R20, the question was, “Who’s number is next at the Van Nuys branch of the California Unemployment Department.”

I read this when it was first published and remember thinking that it didn't break much more new ground than Advise and Consent did a half century earlier.

I feel like it’s good that Matt is primarily doing gay roles. It’s not like they’re straight to on demand or low budget flicks or being typecast in stereotypical gay roles like being someone’s bestie or a screaming queen.

Gay face 🌸

R22 I loved Advise and Consent. Also Gore Vidal’s Washington DC.

Someone needs to do an updated Advise and Consent for the Trump era

Roy Cohn and "Tailgunner Joe" appear as characters in the book. Casting suggestions?

R18: If he’s lucky. I’m so sick of seeing of this no talent being shoved down our throats.

Rear scenes are clearly becoming a requirement in his contract. I guarantee you he will show his butt at some point in this show.

Those creepy dead eyes.

Those creepy Dad eyes.

Good for Matt. It’s a shame his gay needs keeps him from getting lead roles in movies. You have to be straight and Jewish or black to get quality movie roles it seems.

* gayness

R32 “gay needs?” What, he can’t stop from having gay sex on set and it ruins everything?

R34, It was auto correct.

Oh Duckling. AIDS? Again?

It's a terrible idea for a project, stories about right-wing closeted gays simply do not work as the characters are so unsympathetic (see Clint Eastwood's J. Edger).

R35 I don’t know, it maybe a typo, but you might have damn well ruined his career for life if any of the tabloids pick up about sick, sad Matt and his “gay needs.”

AIDS, R36? AIDS isn't going to happen for another few decades.

It literally says AIDS in like the first sentence in Variety.

Ron Nyswaner is adapting the book for the screen and will also serve as showrunner and executive producer on the series. “Fellow Travelers” is described as a political thriller and epic love story that unfolds in the era of McCarthyism and resolves in the age of AIDS.

R32, nice trolling there. Most leading actors aren't black or Jewish. But you knew that

It takes place in the 50s. It's not about AIDS

Fine. You know better than the writer at Variety.

[quote]Rear scenes are clearly becoming a requirement in his contract. I guarantee you he will show his butt at some point in this show.

As a producer, he will insist upon it. He may even go full pubes again. Gotta' keep 'em watching!

(There is sex in the book. His character is promiscuous. However, the subject matter doesn't really lend itself to a whole lot of that, especially since it's already obvious they want awards for this project. His character is also 34ish in the book although it takes place over a long period of time. You have to be careful who you cast opposite him or else it could look really awkward.)

Is there something for Colton?

Colto.

Colton will play Foggy Bottom.

More like Hoggy Bottom, amirite?

Bomer only posted about this project on his IG story today almost like an afterthought. Does he not want to do it? He seemed more excited about this one.

He really does look anamitronic there.

R48, he's producing it, of course he wanted to do it

They may have offered a vanity EP title just to entice him to attach himself.

R48, the project is also only in "development." This is not his first time at the rodeo. This is no different than the Monty Clift project which was also in development with a network and writer attached. When a project is at this stage it could happen. It could also not happen. He's had other projects get stuck here. Once they have scripts complete, a cast in place, etc. Then that's something he could be more excited about. I'm sure he's happy about it but it's still a long way off.

Also that team is focusing on "My Policeman" right now. They finished shooting that in June. It won't even be out until sometime in 2022. They're really just lining up their next project (this) while editing and planning the promotion for that.

Matt is cute. He should be a top daddy.

R36 r39, the Fellow Travelers prologue and epilogue take place in 1991, but the rest of the book takes place between 1953 and 1957.

Will they ever put a person behind that face?

I’ve met him and he is really charming and friendly. Also very good looking in person.

What does his ass look like in person, R56?

Do you think Matt ever used his penis for penetration?

Not with Mr. Peabody. With Rannells, probably, because I can’t imagine that one as a top either.

Certainly I am aware of what in development means, you asshole

It just struck me as odd that he sort of sheepishly waited a few days after the announcement and the posted it in his story, basically an afterthought,

My husband read this novel and found it boring.

[quote] He would be perfect in a series about a Madam Tussaud’s wax figure who comes to life and aspires to be a mediocre actor.

Oh shade

Since this will be on Showtime, will Bomer be displaying any Boner?

[quote] The article says Bomer will play the older man, but it doesn’t say who will play the younger character.

What about super booty gay actor Garret Clayton. He has more than enough going on back there for Bomer to bone.

Wasn't this novel made into a B&W movie in the 1990s already? I remember it very vaguely though.

Fellow Travelers was published in 2007, but the so-called lavender menace could have been the basis for another movie. Or maybe this documentary is what you're remembering, R65?

R63: I hope so. I guarantee though that you will see his butt.

It is strange and somewhat annoying when you see Rat Boy, Adam Driver, and Benedict Cumberbatch get leading man role after leading man role and this openly gay guy can’t even get an audition for a leading man part. Being openly gay has probably cost him some roles but let’s be honest. He’s not much of an actor.

R64 That's just embaembarrassing. Why would someone dance like that and let the world see?

I read the book when it first came out and enjoyed it to a degree but was a bit lost about many of the various real life characters that appear. Mallon doesn't help the reader with a lot of explanation of who they were and what they stood for. Frustrating as the writing is very good and seems evocative of the period. But it still had an emotional pull. I think it'll make a great mini-series and Matt is perfect casting for Hawk.

I also enjoyed his DEWEY BEATS TRUMAN though it suffered (for me) with the same issues of presuming the reader was familiar with all the existing politics, historic incidents and real life characters of the time. Mallon's BANDBOX is his best book. A hilarious satire about the behind the scenes workings of a men's fashion magazine in the 1920s. I think it's his only comic novel and is not reliant on knowing the historical context.

[quote] It is strange and somewhat annoying when you see Rat Boy, Adam Driver, and Benedict Cumberbatch get leading man role after leading man role and this openly gay guy can’t even get an audition for a leading man part.

Water in Hollywood eventually finds it own level and Bomer has not shown anything that would put him alongside those actors. Someone on here wrote that his ass is more famous than his acting, which while cruel was not inaccurate.

R71, He hasn’t had the chance to. Eat it Chaamalet cannot act his way out of a paper bag neither can Adam Driver.

Even gifted gay actors like Pedro Pascal cannot get lead parts and he’s popular with his own section of str8 fangirls and he’s glass closeted.

I have no idea how auto correct turned “Ratboy” into ear it.

R72 you realize that arguing that Matt Bomer’s acting is on a level equivalent or greater than Timothée Chalamet or Adam Driver puts you in a very small minority right?

What a squared jaw

Pedro Pascal would be an a lister if he had a pretty beard. It’s gross that his bestie Oscar Isaac has 4 movies coming out and Pedros biggest project lately has been a wine commercial.

Pedro Pascal is the star of a major upcoming HBO scifi series.

Is Oscar Isaac considered attractive?

Yes.

That wide face freaked me out😳

Matt has to be the "older man" right?

Not if Dr. Myron Rosenzweig has anything to say about it!

[quote]Certainly I am aware of what in development means, you asshole

Apparently, you didn't know what it meant R60, or you wouldn't have asked such a stupid question which was answered by telling you that this project is only in development.

The book was only 8 dollars on iBooks so I downloaded it. I’m not too impressed. The gorgeous guy falling for the slight, dweeby guy reminds me of the gay romance from Cavalier and Klay - more author wish fulfillment than three dimensional characterization.

Bomer is perhaps already too old for the role- he’s almost twenty years older than the love interest’s age, 23.

R74, Matt went to a prestigious acting school. Not sure why people think he's a bad actor, but there are tons of people here who need to pile on openly gay actors while slobbering over mediocre straight (or "straight") ones. Who the hell thinks of Timmy as any kind of genius actor?

[quote] Matt went to a prestigious acting school.

And Simon Rex did porn straight out of high school and may get an Oscar nomination this year. What’s your point?

R86, what's YOUR point? The Carnegie Mellon drama school is hard to get into, you don't get in if you're not talented

While this film (or is it a miniseries?) may only be "in development" the subject matter in these political witch-hunty times couldn't be more pertinent and I'd bet it will get fast-tracked to production. I'm a fan of the book, btw, and Matt is great casting.

Yet I can totally see why a bio film about Monty Clift starring Matt Bomer would remain in development hell. Matt could never capture the aura of Monty. And the audience who knows who Clift was is quickly dying out.

I think Richard Madden was interested in doing a Clift pic and would be better casting.

[quote]The Carnegie Mellon drama school is hard to get into, you don't get in if you're not talented

He was good enough at singing and acting to get into CMU a few decades ago. While he is talented he doesn't often get the right material and I think that's why people think he's just an okay actor.

[quote]While this film (or is it a miniseries?) may only be "in development" the subject matter in these political witch-hunty times couldn't be more pertinent and I'd bet it will get fast-tracked to production.

Actually, people want shows like Ted Lasso. If you want to get more serious then White Lotus and Hacks. The Only Murders in the Building also comes to mind, which has its serious moments but it is also a lot of fun. Most people don't want political shows right now and are burned out on it as Ryan Murphy is finding out with his Monica Lewinsky series, but he wasn't the only one that has had a political series come out in 2020 or 2021 (so far) which either bombed or people forgot about. (Add to that list anything involving a virus that kills the population is a no-no now.) While I'm sure this show will be good, it will be an uphill climb. It's best not to rush it out. The Monty Clift project would have done better now than this because wouldn't have involved politics at all.

Looking forward to it!

[quote] While he is talented he doesn't often get the right material and I think that's why people think he's just an okay actor.

I will disagree with this and argue that he doesn’t bring much to the roles he is given. Most actors don’t have the luxury of having every role tailored to them. They have to bring their own instincts to make even marginal roles stand out. Bomer tends to fade away when he is not the central character, which is why he seems so ill-served in ensembles like Boys in the Band or Magic Mike XXL. God he was awful in that.

Kavalier & Clay was of course a much better novel, R84. I still wonder why it's never been adapted to film. Apparently Scott Rudin never got it off the ground, then Stephen Daldry sat on it. It got as far as Ben Whishaw and Andrew Garfield screen testing, Natalie Portman to be signed as Rosa, and then nothing doing for the last decade.

Its unfilmable as a theatrical piece. The Chabons are adapting it now as a series for their deal at Showtime.

Timmy went to one of the best drama high schools in the country!

Brandon Flynn just shot this new black and white magazine spread and he’s giving off James Dean vibes. If there’s to be a biopic it better be a gay or bi actor and he has that emotional range as an actor to pull it off.

^ He's hot

[quote]He would be perfect in a series about a Madam Tussaud’s wax figure who comes to life and aspires to be a mediocre actor.

I really like Matt and this still made me crack up, thank you for that.

And outgoing hot character falls for endearingly nerdy character is one of my favorite tropes, so I'll be checking this out.

What's special about him? Just wondering.

CMU Drama has BA and Ma programs. Bomer graduated with a BA. The undergraduate program is not "hard to get into", really, because the applicants are 17, or 18 or 19 and choosing it as their major, after starting at CMU. How much experience can they have? I went to CMU art school for a year. CMU is a great school but 17 and 18 yos are not brilliant in anything, usually.

R100, and yet the drama program has a low acceptance rate. Most people who apply don't get in

DRAMA undergraduate? Does one even apply specifically for that?

[quote] Does one even apply specifically for that?

If one doesn’t, one should. The criteria should be rigorous and hard.

R102, yes, most schools with a prestigious drama program require a separate audition, even if you get into the university you don't automatically get into the drama program

He's beautiful, but has yet to impress me as an actor. He's not bad and he doesn't make a fool of himself, but he's just not very memorable besides his looks and his ass. Even Zac Efron who's also more known for his looks and body than his actor abilities has shown some life in stuff like Hairspray and The Greatest Showman. Matt just doesn't have any spark. He really is like a Ken doll who came to life. That'd be the perfect role for him.

Virtually all arts programs at most universities require auditions and a separate application beyond general admission. Being accepted into the school itself isn't a guaranteed admission to every program it offers. It's been like that for decades.

R105, Zac Efron isn't a better actor than Bomer. He didn't do anything in Hairspray except sing badly. The Greatest Showman was an all-around abortion, no one was good in it

Efron had natural star quality.

Bomer had the illusion of star quality because of White Collar which was the result of many creative people working together to make him look glamorous and interesting. What you found once he stepped outside the show was a very pretty face & body with nowhere to go. If you just put him in something and hope he sparks, he’ll get pushed to the sidelines. Look at Magic Mike XXL, very little can be said of his role in that movie other than that he was in it. Same with Boys in the Band, where he’s brought onscreen at the beginning of the movie to take off his clothes and then does nothing for two hours. He actually said Ryan Murphy was the architect of his career which I thought was an odd statement given the he’s not one of Murphy’s favorites, until I realized that Murphy did more or less set the pattern of casting him in stuff and then letting him sink on his own shortcomings.

His performance on his season on The Sinner was touching. Not all that well conceived or written as role but he did something with it.

No one in the Magic Mike sequel came across well. Because it sucked. So of course let's single out the gay guy...

I think it’s fair to single him out because he does absolutely nothing in it. He barely even strips. You would think have at least had a good scene written like Manganiello did, given that he (Bomer) was billed second.

Weirdly, my favorite recent role of his is Larry Trainor on Doom Patrol. HIs character is such a Debbie Downer, and he has a lot of funny and glum one-liners. He also has a touching and realistic story arc about self-acceptance.

[quote]CMU Drama has BA and Ma programs. Bomer graduated with a BA.

BFA, not BA in Musical Theater.

[quote]The undergraduate program is not "hard to get into", really, because the applicants are 17, or 18 or 19 and choosing it as their major, after starting at CMU.

Absolutely wrong as hell. You're just guessing! Child, do not cite the deep magic to me, I was there when it was written!

You can go to CMU and do any major you want but if you want to go for Acting/Musical Theater you have to audition for that program as you would for any acting program at a major school. Usually, that requires singing a few songs and choosing a selection of monologues. Usually, they want you to know between 5 and 7. Some of them you'll be able to perform as your own choice (do what you think you know best) and then the board judging you might pick what they want you to do from the monologues you have told them that you know. "You have Tick, Tick, Boom down as one of the monologues you know so why don't you give that a try!" Also sometimes they go into very specific musical theory stuff that you'd only know if you'd been doing that for a while.

Also back then, it was very much a conservatory (still is tbh) in that they would cut people from the program often. So even if you got into the program you might not be there next semester. They got rid of that practice years ago.

Finally, you start your acting classes freshman year. Most schools that have acting programs do have something that starts as soon as you get there. It's a tight knit group and they want to pull you into that system from the start.

[quote]How much experience can they have?

Okay, I'm not going to tip my hat too much here but people that get into these programs at good schools like CMU have been acting for years at the point they get in. Some of these kids have been working since they were 12 or younger. Is it possible to start later? Yes. I wish I could get across what these kids do before they get into a school like this and they end up competing against other kids that have performed for years even at 17 or 18.

[quote]I went to CMU art school for a year.

Look, I'm not going to go, "YOU OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T GO TO SCHOOL THERE!" because you may have, who knows. You were in a different program. The acting program is pretty serious and it was even more so back then. There's a reason why so many people from the program have done well. Some of it is because they picked the right kids and the rest is because those kids had shown they were passionate about their craft even before they considered CMU as an option.

Jesus Christ Mary. Did you go to CMU?

I went to CUM.

CMU is an intensely competitive school and known to have a lot of suicides. Stretching between the CMU campus and the Pitt campus is Schenley Bridge where many students jump to their death. Many people know it from the Mysteries of Pittsburgh as the Cloud Factory reside below in the hollow the bridge traverses.

Sniffin bikkies

Undergraduate drama school can make a pretty teenage boy a competent actor which is exactly what it did with Bomer. The issue is that in Hollywood, your mettle is defined by that spark, that something extra that separates you from the hundreds of other people waiting to take your place. Bomer does not have that, onscreen or off (his IG is an unimpressive 1M, less than Smudge the cat.)

R66 - I found the movie, directed by Philip Saville in 1990.

.

Fellow Traveller (1990)

[quote]1954: blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Asa Kaufman (Silver) arrives in London to work anonymously on scripts for the new independent television series 'Robin Hood'. Shattered by the news of the Hollywood suicide of his actor friend Cliff Byrne (Bochner) but unable to return home (he faces a HUAC subpoena), Asa enlists the reluctant help of Cliff's ex-lover Sarah (Stubbs), and dredges through his dreams and memories in search of clues to Cliff's death. As scripted by Michael Eaton, this McCarthy-period thriller interweaves numerous themes: guilt, confession and repression; privacy, paranoia and betrayal; the difference between America and Britain in the '50s; the role played by obsession in artistic creativity; the conflict between Marxist and freudian concepts of socio-political change. But it's also a moody, gripping suspense drama, reminiscent of classic film noir, its tortuous narrative full of mysterious flashbacks and dream sequences. Saville elicits some very fine performances, notably from Silver, and Travanti as a 'pink shrink' who treats Hollywood's Left; but finally it's the sheer wealth of detail and the uncommonly intelligent ambitions of the script that carry the day.

Same era, r119. Different story and characters.

Matt Bomer doesn't have much acting skills but he is very good looking.

Some people seem overly invested in arguing that the talented, handsome, successful, partnered, gay parent Matt Bomer, is untalented. GET YOUR OWN LIVES, YOU UGLY CUNTS

R122 it is Bomer's fault if he does not bring more to the roles he chooses other than a pretty face and bubble butt.

My personal opinion is that while Bomer is capable of giving better performances, he is satisfied in taking roles as they come to him largely through the connections he has through his husband, and those roles are not particularly good and tend to be of the low-hanging fruit variety (ie his awful stint on Will & Grace). If he gets something interesting it tends to have come from outside the Simon Halls pipeline, like The Sinner.

Does he really have a bubble butt?

It’s bubble butt adjacent. The crack doesn’t go all the way up like in a true bubble butt (see example)

He went to a prestigious drama school. So what? Not everyone coming out of Yale Drama School is a prodigy. Besides Hollywood is a fickle, subjective, and arbitrary business. It doesn't always respond to how talented, attractive, or good-hearted you are. The fact is he's a very handsome man but his range is limited and he knows it. He can only play Matt Bomer. I agree that he comes across as aloof and just doesn't have that spark.

Whoever said his ass gets more positive reviews than his acting hit the nail on the head.

He has gotten plenty of goid reviews, especially for The Normal Heart

R126, he has never played "Matt Bomer"

But try telling that to people who think Zac Efron and Timothee Chalamet are Olivier and Gielgud

[quote] He can only play Matt Bomer.

This I disagree with, because it presumes there’s a “there” there. I don’t think there is. There’s no “Matt Bomer” to bring, which is why his thinly-drawn roles are so unmemorable.

You know what really sticks in your gnarled craws? It's so easy for Bomer to be gorgeous and successful.

Jesus Christ, there's a wide berth between "not a brilliant prodigy" and "vapid loser with zero talent and charisma." Learn some nuance, bitches.

I loved him in The Normal Heart

TBH the role in TNH is exactly the same as this one in Fellow Travelers, as in “Very beautiful man falls in love with dweeby author surrogate because wish fulfillment.” I did not think he was great in TNH.

His role in The Normal Heart was more complex than just being a hot guy who falls in live with a "dweeby" guy. You're making shit up. His role in Fellow Travelers is also more complex than that

To be clear, Bomer is playing the older man in the gay relationship in Fellow Travelers. An aloof, entitled preppy, mentor to a young and impressionable Washington aide.

I'm reading the book again, and have gotten to the part where the twink asks the preppy to slap him in the face, with which request he complies. A couple of scenes later, both acknowledge that the older guy "owns" the younger one. Except for the slapping, it reminds me of the first time I fell in love, with someone who only wanted to have sex with me.

I’m looking forward to it. Matt isn’t a flashy actor, but I think he does a good job in the roles he plays. This sounds like a good story.

I just finished reading Fellow Travelers. AIDS doesn't feature in the story at all. It's a sad story, as sad as Brokeback Mountain, though neither character gets killed. In a sense, it's even sadder, because they're mainly victims of their own internal homophobia. They could have made different choices, but didn't. So much fear.

I don't want to say any more than that.

r139, you can't have finished the book. I'll say no more.

r139, you can't have finished the book. I'll say no more.

[quote] R139, you can't have finished the book. I'll say no more.

But you did! You did say more at R141!

I only started the book, but the younger character is revealed to have died of AIDS at the start of the book, so it’s not really a spoiler.

Bomer has zero charisma

Not true, r143. In the prologue, the older man [italic]assumes[/italic] the younger one died of AIDS.

Well thanks for spoiling it for me, turd.

Well thanks for being such a cunt.

Can it be a spoiler if it's in the prologue?

Updates?

What updates? It won't go into production for at least a year if at all.

When does filming start?

What do y'all see in him? He has narrow shoulders and wide hips. He could beg me to hook up with him, and I would turn him down.

Totally fogot about him.

Wide hips? In what world? Nothing on him is wide. He's slender

R152 probably gets turned down by obese 90-year-olds

R151 I don’t even think it’s been ordered to pilot yet

[quote] He has narrow shoulders and wide hips

That makes him more attractive to me.

He’s very rectangular. Would not have made a good Superman who needs a sprawling wide torso.

I was very disillusioned that he didn't show his cock in BITB, it was a sock! I was tricked!

Y'all are crazy, he has a great body

When I saw "new role", I assumed he was going to try to top someone.

This sounds really good actually

Has anyone listened to Bomer on the podcast of that Long Island Medium Theresa Caputo? It's wild. No clue why he did that or if he believed anything she was saying. Was hard to tell without video.

What was he saying, R163 ? He seems kinda naive and gullible, so I'm not surprised he believes in that kind of things.

R15 what about Logan lerman

The medium was so full of shit. She claimed his first love had “stepped forward” and was there with them. If you’re a fan, listen because it’s sort of interesting to hear his reaction and the limited info he gives about his first relationship (guy was older, they were long distance, bomer wrote him lots of letters and then the guy was seeing other people and bomer didn’t realize that was the arrangement so they parted ways but on good terms, the guy died unexpectedly and bomer found out years later and visited his grave). There was also some stuff about grandparents that was pretty generic. He came off as very sweet, polite and pretty guarded as usual. I guess he must believe in that shit to even agree to do the podcast?

I had to take breaks because I find her so obnoxious and grating. I couldn’t tell if he was getting emotional - wish it was video in addition to audio.

Damn - no video😔 I would watch if there was a video

Thank you, I don't think I could have listened to it. That kind of BS really irritates me. But I remember him tweeting about that session in a very positive way, so I think he believes in that stuff.

[quote]I guess he must believe in that shit to even agree to do the podcast?

He said a long time ago that he did it as a favor but people seemed to have missed that probably because he didn't go into details.

They wanted celebrity guests to help promote the podcast and the first few celeb guests, Kim Kardashian, Nathan Lane etc. are all affiliated with his husband's PR firm.

Ohhhh that makes more sense R169 - seemed like such a strange thing to agree to do. He did sound emotional though when she brought up the first boyfriend but it’s hard to tell on audio and he’s an actor so who knows.

This interview talks about Matt’s career and shows his personality..

Production Weekly lists this as currently in production.

Will he be getting his fartbox out again?

Sorry R173. Production Weekly doesn’t cover that. I would bet there will be sex scenes though, given the plot.

Maybe shooting in Toronto?

Bump.

It’s gotten an eight episode order

Sorry I don’t see how this can be stretched out that long. Can’t it just be a two hour movie?

Looks like this is happening.

No shit.

I could see it being a series with each episode focusing on a particular time and event. From the article above:

They begin a romance just as Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn declare war on “subversives and sexual deviants,” initiating one of the darkest periods in 20th-century American history. Over the course of four decades, Hawk and Tim cross paths through the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, while facing obstacles in the world and in themselves.

This sounds very watchable, I'm not going to lie. No word on who's playing the younger guy?

I really liked the book

Shooting in Toronto in July.

[quote] Over the course of four decades, Hawk and Tim cross paths through the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, while facing obstacles in the world and in themselves

Oh great, a Boomer nostalgia piece.

The time and place of the Red Scare should be enough to mine for a decent two hour movie, instead they’re going to drag this out like an eight hour The Way We Were complete with ghastly aging makeup.

Sure, here’s a gay romance series - let’s condemn it before we even see it!

R184, I'm not sure how deep into the 60s and 70s the series will go. The book doesn't go there are at all. It's set almost entirely in the 50s, framed by a couple scenes set in the 80s

Exactly, the book is a fairly simple story set in Red Scare Washington but Ron Nyswander (sp) has apparently turned into an eight-hour gay Forrest Gump.

Perhaps there are extended sex scenes that take up a lot of time.

Please, no one wants to see Duckling top.

The young lead character is freshly out of college in the 1950s, so it's a Silent Generation nostalgia piece.

Ron Nyswander is a boomer, born 56. But you do point out a flaw in this project, the characters are basically too old to participate in the zeitgeist events like Vietnam or the disco craze. The older character would even be older than Don Draper in Mad Men. So why reinterpret this novel like that?

I've always imagined Tim looking something like English actor Shaun Evans, who was a youthful 28, when the book came out in 2008. The cover photo reminded me of him, I suppose.

FYI, it's Nyswaner.

R189 Your obsessive duckling comments are not clever or amusing. They’re just tiresome spam on every thread that mentions Matt Bomer.

What is Nyswaner, r193? It's always helpful to give an R number.

Hope he gets his ass out again. And cock too. He tricked us last time with that hateful cock sock

I read the novel years ago. It’s very good, the characters are fully realized and the ending is terribly sad.

Is it sad like A Little Life gay torture porn or is it sad like The Notebook where they have some happiness for a time and then they die of old age or somewhere in between?

^ More like the Notebook

R191, except for the prologue and epilogue, which is set in 1991, the story takes place between 1953 and 1957. No Vietnam. No disco.

Movies based on books are adapted and frequently deviate or expand on the original text. It’s a little early to be making judgments about it without seeing a script or previews. I think it sounds promising.

[quote] Fellow Travelers is described as a love story and political thriller chronicling the volatile romance of two men who meet in the shadow of McCarthy-era Washington.

[quote] The series delivers us directly into an insider world of Washington rife with national consequences, while drawing out intimate moments that are profoundly personal and often heartbreaking.

When Matt Bomer came out publicly as a gay man who loves his husband and children, he may have sacrificed his eligibility to play straight romantic leads (despite his previous success as Neal Caffrey in White Collar and supporting characters in Magic Mike, AHS Hotel, TX Chainsaw Massacre & Chuck).

Instead he is making an impressive career playing serious and sympathetic gay roles: Felix Turner (TNH), Sean (Papi Chulo), Donald (BITB), Larry Trainor (DP). He also played the comedic character of McCoy in W&G and he is scheduled to play Leonard Bernstein’s lover in Bradley Cooper’s Maestro. As Hank Fuller in FT, he will clearly be the star of this new series.

[quote] Fellow Travelers, based on Thomas Mallon’s fabulous best-selling novel, will chronicle the life of Hawkins Fuller, a top political operative in Washington DC during the McCarthy/Blacklist era. (Queerty)

I thinks it's awful he hasn't shown off his peen before

Front would be PERFECT for the younger lover. But would Bomer agree to work with someone prettier than him?

FROY

Bomer ain't taking MY MAN

Richard is actually a better choice for Hawkins but I doubt he wants a gay role like this

Richard's played a few gay/bi roles, but he's too old for that role. It's supposed to be a man a couple of years out of college, and Richard is 35 and looks 48.

The young one is just out of college and the older one is a decade older.

R207: Richard played a gay manager in Rocketman (with a sex scene where he bottomed). So, playing gay and doing gay sex scenes is not new for him. That would not be an issue.

Obviously Richard does not have a problem with gay roles, but I think he wouldn’t play someone who is having a romance with a decade difference younger man like he is in real life

[quote] Over the course of four decades, Hawk and Tim cross paths through the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, while facing obstacles in the world and in themselves. (Deadline)

[quote] [R184], I'm not sure how deep into the 60s and 70s the series will go. The book doesn't go there are at all. It's set almost entirely in the 50s, framed by a couple scenes set in the 80s.

Hmm, if the Deadline article is correct, only the beginning can be based on the book and the he rest will have to be new content.

[quote] Fellow Travelers, based on Thomas Mallon’s fabulous best-selling novel, will chronicle the life of Hawkins Fuller, a top political operative in Washington DC during the McCarthy/Blacklist era. (Queerty)

If Queerty is correct, the text will still probably have to be expanded to fill eight episodes. Wonder which it will be?

Also, most of the book focuses more on the Tim Laughlin character’s experience than Hawkins Fuller’s.

Another Paramount limited series “The Offer” is being released to savage reviews for being tedious, plodding and overstuffed. I have a feeling that in the apparent arms race for content, they are just greenlighting long form for the sake of having minutes, not whether it’s actually in the service of the story or anything. It reminds me of the failed TV adaptation of The Right Stuff which was so…. slowwww…

Anyway I fear this will end up being the same, turning a fairly tight book into yet another boomer’s goddamn take of We Didn’t Start the Fire.

I wonder if they will focus more on the romance or the politics. Or maybe trying to both is the reason it will be so long. They will have to cast actors to play real historical characters like Joe McCarthy & Roy Cohn.

^ I can play Roy Cohn!

I thought David Dastmalchian would make a great Roy Cohn when I saw him suicide squad but he’s 46 and Cohn was in his twenties during the Red Scare

Ted Cruz IS Tailgunner Joe

The lovesick young lover, Timothy Laughton, is described as an innocent 5’7” 22yo Irish Catholic with freckles and a stammer. Who could play him?

FROY.

Look at all those Freckles

Richard uses them for target practice

R221: Froy is adorable!

Andrew Burnap for Timothy

Bomer would be better suited to play the android Gigolo Joe in a spin-off series of AI: Artificial Intelligence.

Andrew Burnap just got the lead in Disney’s Snow White so he’s not doing a Showtime mini

R224: Yes

r225 That's a prince I'd like to see cum.

Yet another gay role for Duckling?

Something wrong with playing a gay role? It’s a leading part in a series.

R227 See R202

Nothing but gay roles for Duckling!

R230 Except he does also play straight roles. He starred in The Sinner S3. He’s in another series called Echoes coming out later this year.

Also, calling a successful 44 year old man “ducking” isn’t really cute. Your homophobia is showing and that’s not cute either.

That person has been desperately trying to get that stupidass nickname to stick to Matt Bomer for almost a decade now as a catty jab about the fact that he thinks Matt follows Simon around like a baby duck follows its mom. It hasn't caught on with anyone else and people have been telling him to STFU with the Duckling bullshit almost as long as he's been doing it, so, basically, it's a homophobic troll hater. He's in every single Matt Bomer thread. Obsessed.

I picked up the book and Hawkins is supposed to be twenty eight at the start of the novel. They really deviated with the casting.

R233 Except it looks like they are going to extend the story over a couple of decades so his age will be fine. They just can’t make the other actor too young since he will also have to age.

They did that on Doom Patrol for Matt - de-aged him a little when he was supposed to be in his 20s/early 30s. Since it was all in hazy flashbacks, it worked seamlessly.

She will play the Senator’s daughter that Hawkins Fuller marries.

They look like siblings.

Oh God they do.

Odd they would cast that role before casting, you know, the other lead.

Shooting in Toronto 7/27 - 12/10 according to Twitter.

They better find the other male lead soon!

This is the type of project typically announced with both leads set, like they just did with Red White and Royal Blue.

It's possible they already have a lead and just haven't announced it yet

A project like this would normally be contingent on pickup with both leads cast. Even White Collar was done that way.

And yet we don’t know who it is yet. Maybe they’re trying to decide between two actors or they might be waiting for the actor they want to commit? Somebody has to go to Toronto in 6 weeks.

Well again my point is that you don’t commit to a project like this until you have two leads who are locked into the schedule.

It'll be some straight guy because God forbid we have two out actors playing gay leads.

R244 And yet someone did commit since it is going forward. I don’t understand your point.

I am trying to read this book and it’s not that good. It’s the old adage ‘“It’s not writing, it’s typing.”

Typical scene is “Here enters Tim into a room and here are the names of the five other people in the room and what they do and finally a reminder that Tim is Irish-American in case you forgot.”

Get over yourselves, Irish-Americans! They seriously are like the Transes of their day.

[quote]New role for Matt Bomer

Has he ever tried playing a masculine Top?

Haha, joking, I know that's impossible.

His character Hawkins Fuller in Fellow Travelers is definitely a top.

“A cloud rushed over the map of Ireland that was his face”

WTF kind of sentence is this?

I believe that’s a metaphor.

But about what is it a metaphor? His face is green? Shaped like a potato?

OP- Matt Bomer is very good looking yet he has no sex appeal.

Maybe his face was smooshed at the bottom

[quote]This interview talks about Matt’s career and shows his personality..

He has a personality?

He is a pretty Ken doll. Love to look at him though!

I hope the facework sets before filming starts

OP- He looks SO GAY in that photo it would be pointless for him to attempt to play any heterosexual character in a movie or tv show convincingly.

Well, he’s playing one in a Netflix series called Echoes coming out late this summer or in the fall so we’ll see.

Jonathan Bailey cast as the other lead

He looks good for the role in this picture. (He’s gay, too.)

Mmmm

That's cool that they cast 2 out actors

[quote]Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey cast alongside American Horror Story star in LGBTQ+ drama

It is a gay drama. It involves two gay men, and chronicles the lives of other gay men and women. LGBTQ+ was decades in the future.

LGBTQ includes gay people....that's what the G stands for. People rarely used the term "gay" back then either

Stop looking for things to be offended by

R264 is right. This movie is about gay men. It is not about lesbians or trans (or Q or +), so LGBTQ doesn’t accurately describe it. Next we’ll be hearing complaints that the movie doesn’t include any lesbian or trans characters.

Once again, LGBT included the "G"

The Milo clones are looking for things to be offended by

Well, sure, and “people” includes LGBT, too, so why make any description at all?

People have been using the phrase LGBT since the 90s. No one cared until now. Once again, you are looking for things to be offended by (or pretended to be offended by, since I know you don't really care)

Actually, you are the only one who seems to be offended. What is so upsetting about pointing out that this series is specifically about gay men? No one is taking issue with the general term LGBT. It just isn’t accurate in this case. While one of the characters could conceivably be called bi (because he fathers a child), there are no lesbians or trans in the book. Who knows, though? Maybe they’ll add some.

[quote]The Milo clones are looking for things to be offended by

And, in calling me a "Milo clone," you have succeeded.

R270, LGBT includes the term gay. And you yourself said a character is bisexual. You accuse me of being easily offended but you started it by whining about the term LGBT. Like I said, a Milo clone pretending to be offended. 20 or 30 years no one cared about the term LGBT but then Milo gays started pretending to be offended by it so they could score some points against trans people

LGBT became offensive on Datalounge, r272, about five years ago, when someone started posting that gay men who were happy being gay men were now to be called "cis." Being reduced in the new, hip nomenclature to the first syllable of "sissy" was, yes, offensive. But it has absolutely nothing to do with anyone named Milo.

"Cis" doesn't have anything to do with the term sissy. It's not offensive, all it means is "not trans"

Once again, looking for things to be offended by

Well, actually I said one character could conceivably be called bisexual because he had sex with a woman at least once, but I think anyone who read the book would describe him as gay.

You are just being ridiculous now. I’m not sure if you know you are responding to more than one person.

The more I think about it, though, I expect they will add some L & T characters since it’s going to be an 8 episode series. If so, you will be right. Does that make you happy?

Now please go away. You’ve made your point - repeatedly.

[quote]"Cis" doesn't have anything to do with the term sissy.

Except for the sound. Surely you could have chosen something the very sound of which sends chills (and not the good kind) down my spine. I mean, you call yourselves "progressive."

Regardless of what "cis" means, the sound is quite [bold]re[/bold]gressive.

R276 sounds like one of the easily offended snowflakes that he and his fellow Republicans like to rant about

R275 starts a fight and then gets pissed when people fight back

r277, sorry, but r276 is not a Republican. I know it gives you a thrill to call everyone who doesn't agree with you a Republican, but in my case, it is not true. I vote Democratic, and I vote.

They thinks they knows everything, but they knows only some things. They doesn't know who's a Republican and who isn't, that's for sure.

Interesting Twitter post from Matt. No mention of Jonathan.

R278 sure likes to use a lot of Republican talking points for a Democrat

Here is Matt’s comment on Instagram

Love Bailey and Bomer

I hope there are lots of explicit rimming scenes. I know it's a lot to ask, but they can have them discuss important plot and character stuff in between licks.

Since it’s on Showtime, there will probably be plenty of explicit sex scenes. In the book, most of their interactions are sexual hook ups.

Notice from Toronto talent agency

Jonathan and Matt were seen at a gay bar in Toronto together over the weekend, according to a sighting in Deuxmoi.

Wonder when we’ll start getting photo’s from Toronto.

Echoes - Netflix 7 episode series will be released on August 19..

More cast members named. Obviously some diversity that was not in the book, including a drag queen.

[quote]Over the course of four decades, Hawk and Tim cross paths through the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the 1970s, and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, while facing obstacles in the world and in themselves.

They're opening it up timewise as well. I remember the 1950s and the 1990s in the book, IIRC.

More roles cast. Sounds like they may have made Mary a lesbian? That would be weird since she has a couple of male lovers and ends up pregnant in the book.

Well it’s clear at this point the series is a colossal deviation from the book.

Very good casting of Joseph McCarthy and David Schine; but Will Brill (age 36) is too old for Roy Cohn who was 25 during the McCarthy hearings.

Schine was a tall, dumb himbo with a punchable face: Armie Hammer would have nailed him a decade ago. Visser is quite tall and should do well in the role also.

Trailer for Netflix series Echoes is out. Premiers on August 19.

Echoes thread is here.

Apparently they have started filming.

Park bench scene

Great photos from Fellow Travelers

Matt looks terrific!

Matt is gorgeous. in my mind he is a thirsty bottom who regularly cucks his husband with dom tops

Great body.

I hope to god this movie is as sexy as it has the potential to be.