Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey play lovers Companionsand the costars got really close — thanks in part to the scene he’s in Bridgeton star sucks Bomer’s toe.
“We’re bonded for life, for sure, as friends after going through this together,” Bomer, 46, told PEOPLE on Wednesday at SCAD TVFest 2024 in Atlanta. “So it’s a very sacred friendship for me. I love Jonathan.”
As for whether Bomer will return the gesture for Bailey, 35, the actor jokes, “That wasn’t in the script! We did what was in the script.”
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companions, based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon. follows the relationship of two gay men fighting for their love amid the lavender scare in 1950s Washington DC through the 80s.
Although the story takes place decades ago, Bomer found that viewers of all ages connected with his character Hawk and Bailey’s Skippy.
“On the street, it’s really more generations,” Bomer, who received The Hollywood Reporter‘s Trailblazer Award at SCAD TVFest, said fans of the show. “There are young people who see themselves in the story. I thought they would mostly be seen in Skippy, but they were also seen in Hawk and other characters in the story. And people who have lived many parts of the story that we tell in the show, they love it.”
Matt Bomer (left) and Jonathan Bailey in the movie ‘The Travelers’.
Courtesy of SHOWTIME
Because of such a response to the series, Bomer feels “grateful”.
“I’m so grateful that we even got to do the show,” he continued. “The fact that it resonated the way it did meant the world to me.”
Companions it earned nominations at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, where Bomer also received praise for his individual performance. The father of three also received a Screen Actors Guild nomination for his portrayal of Hawk.
Bomer found himself surprised Companions‘ reception since it launched in October amid the SAG-AFTRA strike when he and his colleagues were unable to promote the project.
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Matt Bomer at the 12th SCAD TVFest in Atlanta.
Jason Kempin/Getty
“It was weird starting the show during the strike because I didn’t have any contact other than maybe email,” Bomer recalled. “But now it was so amazing.”
Bailey previously described working with Bomer as “an absolute pleasure”.
“We’ve both had a lot of experience in our careers with intimacy and portraying intimacy, but there’s also so much that we’ve experienced as gay men. So of course we had a lot to explore,” he told PEOPLE. “Honoring the canon of gay storytelling is what I set out to do.”
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The British actor sees Companions as a hallmark of his career.
“I was looking for those gay stories, the overarching gay love story, but I didn’t really see them,” he said of looking for a Showtime period piece-like story. “This ticked all the boxes and it’s something I know I’ll be proud of for the rest of my career.”
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Companions can be streamed in its entirety on Paramount+ with Showtime.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education