Jonathan Bailey Remembers Sucking Matt Bomer’s Toe in ‘Fellow Travelers’
Jonathan Bailey said he was given “precise” directions about *that* toe-sucking scene Matt Bomer in Fellow travelers.
“It was written very, very precisely – it was as precise as it needed to be,” Bailey, 35, said The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Thursday, December 28. “I saw that as an incredible way to dissect power. I got it when I read it, and I wasn’t intimidated by it.
The Showtime limited series, which premiered in October, featured the Bridgerton actor and Bomer, 46, play two political staffers who fall in love and hide their affair. Based on the 2007 fictional novel of the same name by Thomas MallonIt is set in the 1950s, a time when openly gay men were not allowed to hold positions in the federal government.
In addition to critical acclaim, Fellow travelers has drawn attention for the provocative love scenes between Bailey’s character Tim Laughlin and Bomer’s Hawkins Fuller.
“I was like, ‘If we do that in the first episode, it’ll be worth moving to Toronto for five months, and it’ll be a series I’d want to watch,’” Bomer recalls. “Because not only is it incredibly complicated, not only is it very hot, it’s also something that masks itself as provocative, but actually it has a real psychological impact and the people who get it get it too.”
Bomer added that the Fellow travelers love scenes “were a really external representation of what was going on internally and emotionally with these characters.”
“For me, it was really refreshing to see the gay love scenes being brought to light in a really unflinching way,” he continued.
Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer in ‘Fellow Travelers’.
Thanks to SHOWTIMEBailey’s character also drinks milk throughout the series, a detail that the actor said was an intentional and “brilliant way to show such naivety.” He continued, “You know right away that this is a character who is completely outside of the world that Hawk lives in, and he sees the world completely differently.”
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“The milk was on the call sheet,” Bailey added. “It’s a character in itself. And also the milk’s character arc is more dramatic than everyone else’s. Give it a spin-off, I would say.”
In an interview with People Earlier this month, Bailey opened up about the personal significance of his role in the film Fellow travelers. “I was looking for these gay stories, a compelling gay love story, but I hadn’t really seen them,” he said. “This ticked all the boxes, and I know I will be proud of it for the rest of my career.”
“The superpower of being on the outside looking in means that when you’re older, you’ll be drawn to storytelling and creatives that are unique and exciting,” he continued. “And I think queer people have a real power within them that could be celebrated.”
Fellow travelers airs on Showtime Sundays at 9pm ET.