Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey ‘bonded for life’ after Fellow Travelers toe-sucking scene
"It's a very sacred friendship for me. I love Jonathan"
Fellow Travelers star Matt Bomer has spoken of his friendship with co-star Jonathan Bailey, saying the two are now “bonded for life.”
Bomer and Bailey star in the Showtime series as Hawkins Fuller and Timothy Laughlin who embark on an epic romance stretching 30 years from the 1950s to the 1980s. The show won much acclaim including for its depiction of gay sexuality.
Speaking to People recently, Bomer, 46, discussed some of the steamier scenes of the series. One of those involved Bailey sucking on Bomer’s toes. “We are bonded for life, for sure, as friends after having gone through this together,” said Bomer. “It’s a very sacred friendship for me. I love Jonathan,” he then added.
Asked about the toe-sucking specifically, Bomer replied: “That wasn’t in the script! We did what was in the script.”
When Attitude spoke to Fellow Travelers creator Ron Nyswaner he explained that the sex scenes were addressed like any other scene. Describing them as an “exchange of power,” he said: “The sex scenes are in the script and our actors came so thoroughly committed to the scripts, and to giving the show what it needed, that it wasn’t a particularly challenging part of making the show.”
“There are young people who see themselves in the story” – Matt Bomer
Bomer was speaking as he collected The Hollywood Reporter’s Trailblazer Award at the SCAD TVfest earlier this week. The Boys in the Band star also said he was “grateful” for the positivity he had received. He also said he was surprised at who resonated with the show.
“It’s been really multi-generational. There are young people who see themselves in the story. I thought they would mostly see themselves in Skippy. But they’ve also seen themselves in Hawk and other characters in the story. And folks who’ve lived through a lot of the pieces of the story that we’re telling in the show, it’s resonated with them.”
Fellow Travelers is streaming on Paramount+ and Prime Video.