With director Joe Mantello’s fantastic adaptation of The Boys in the Band now streaming on Netflix, I recently spoke to Matt Bomer about being part of the production. If you’re not aware, back in 2018, Mantello and his all-openly gay cast including Zachary Quinto, Jim Parsons, Andrew Rannells, Charlie Carver, Michael Benjamin Washington, Tuck Watkins, Brian Hutchison, and Robin De Jesús, put on a revival of Mart Crowley’s iconic 1968 work, where it played to sold out audiences and went on to win the 2019 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. After the production wrapped, producer Ryan Murphy and everyone involved decided to get back together and make a movie.

If you haven’t seen the trailers or know the material, The Boys in the Band takes place in New York City in the late 60s and is about a group of gay friends that get together for a birthday party. As the night progresses, everyone is forced to examine the choices they have made and the cracks in their relationships begin to show.

What you also need to know is when this production was originally put on Off-Broadway in 1968 it was literally a game-changer. No one was presenting gay men’s lives onstage without judgement. At the time, if you were a member of the LGBTQ community, you needed to be careful about showing who you were both in public and even in private. People were jailed for holding hands in public (and still are today in other parts of the world). In addition, this play happened before Stonewall. Before gay activists won support from the Democratic Party. Before any openly gay person ran for a political office. Simply put: 1968 was such a different era, it’s hard to get your mind around it when you compare where we are today. But art like The Boys in the Band helped change society. That’s why it’s important to know the context and history.

During my interview with Matt Bomer he talked about what it meant being part of this historic material, what the play meant to LGBTQ people back in 1968, getting to work with cinematographer Bill Pope, why he loves Roger Deakins, how William Friedkin helped him prepare for the role, all the people that have sacrificed to get to the freedom LGBTQ people have today, and more. In addition, he revealed the TV series he’d love to guest star on, what movies he’s seen the most, the status of more White Collar, and what’s up with Doom Patrol Season 3. Finally, we talked about two specific things that happen in the movie: what Michael inscribed on the frame to Harold, and what Alan wanted to tell Michael.

Check out what he had to say in the player below and further down the page is exactly what we talked about followed by the official synopsis. For more on the film, you can read Greg’s review here or watch my interviews with Zachary Quinto and Jim Parsons.

Matt Bomer:
What kind of present do you give Ryan Murphy after he gives you a great role?
What TV series would he like to guest star on?
What movie has he seen the most?
Has he ever seen a TV series all the way through more than once?
Has he ever imagined what it would have been like seeing The Boys in the Band Off-Broadway in 1968?
How he met with William Friedkin who provided him with a ton of information about the era.
How much has changed in the fifty years since the play was originally put on.
How younger viewers could learn a lot about the era.
How they pulled off the staging and blocking of the film.
What was it like working with Bill Pope?
How he geeked out with Pope and Roger Deakins when he worked with them.
What was the hardest part of doing the film after having performed the material so many times?
What does he think Michael inscribed on the frame to Harold?
What does he think Alan wanted to tell Michael?
When was the last time he was really nervous before doing something on stage or on a movie?
What’s going on with White Collar?
What’s the status of Doom Patrol Season 3?

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