admin Bomer, meanwhile, says—laughing, but seemingly dead serious—that it’s his goal to play a queer character from every decade of the 20th century. “A queer Decalogue,” he says, referencing the Krzysztof Kieślowski classic.
Bomer’s next project might just help him do that. He’s currently producing a Steven Soderbergh film on Lawrence v. Texas, the case that overturned the sodomy laws in Texas in 2003 but started in the 90s.
There are many more stories to tell. And as our interview winds down, Bomer and Bailey start spitballing dream projects.
We talk about All of Us Strangers director Andrew Haigh, who’s revered for his portraits of gay intimacy. “Andrew Haigh has been a special filmmaker for years,” Bailey says. “I think (his film) Weekend informed actually how I approached the sex scenes in (Fellow Travelers).”
“I’d love to play Jessica Fletcher’s queer grandson who moves back to Cabot Cove,” Bomer says, referencing Angela Lansbury’s iconic role in Murder, She Wrote. “He’s inherited her house and he finds an old journal in her library, and it’s a case she never saw and he takes up her mantle.”
And moments before the restaurant speakers suddenly start blaring George Michael’s “Freedom ’90,” Bailey comes in with a killer pitch: “I’m obsessed with the Sacred Band of Thebes, an army of 300 gay lovers in (ancient) Greece. They partnered in pairs, this gay army, and they overthrew a Spartan army… I want to do that as a comedy.”
“Oh hell yes!” Bomer says.
“Just get all the queer actors together,” Bailey says, laughing.
“Lee Pace, everyone,” Bomer says.
“Where would we film it?” Bailey asks.
“Mykonos?” Bomer suggests.
“Flaming Saddles, down the road,” Bailey counters with a chuckle, referring to a gay bar in midtown.
“Oil us up and let’s go!” Bomer says.
Photographs by Quil Lemons
Styled by Moses Moreno
Grooming by Melissa DeZarate
Set Design by Daniel Horowitz
