Inside Bridgerton Star Jonathan Bailey's Friendship With Matt Bomer
Actors Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey co-star in Showtime's "Fellow Travelers," a love story between two closeted gay men in the twentieth century based on the book of the same name. Their characters' on-screen relationship is romantic, but off-screen, Bomer and Bailey became good friends while acting side-by-side.
The first time Bomer met Bailey was brought up during their "The Puppy Interview" with Buzzfeed. Bomer said that even before he knew Bailey personally, he was a fan of his. After they met, Bomer knew Bailey would be a great person to act alongside: "We met at coffee, and I knew I had an amazing scene partner that I could trust."
In an E! News interview, Bailey and Bomer also reminisced about their first meeting at a coffee shop in Toronto, Canada (not counting the time they met on Zoom for a chemistry read). Bailey — who also plays Anthony on "Bridgerton" — told the outlet how significant that meeting ended up being: "We sat down, and it felt a sort of biblical moment actually, looking back. But at the time, it was just a really nice get-to-know-you." Both men agreed to be in each others' corner, with Bomer calling it a "pact to have each other's backs."
Bailey said he and Bomer are 'bonded for life'
It took about 100 days to film "Fellow Travelers," and that time brought Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer closer. "It's amazing to get to know that these characters meet on a bench, sipping milk," Bailey told E! News. "And then, from there, this whole thing blossoms. So, we could lean into the characters' experiences and find it in the scenes. And I think by the end of the shoot, we were sort of bonded for life."
While being interviewed on "The View," host Alyssa Farah Griffin quoted that Bailey thought he and Bomer were "bonded for life" after playing these roles and asked, "What made these roles so special for you?" Bailey called the romance between their characters "cosmic" and added, "I think the specificity of the queer experience between the two of them is something that is just sort of enchanting, and it required so much commitment from everyone who told the story."
He started to draw up a comparison between his friendship with Matt and their characters' relationship but switched gears to say he's been inspired by Bomer for "riding a wave of progress for years. ... So to be boogie-boarding alongside him on that wave now is really, it's like, it's lovely."
Bomer joked that he and Bailey 'have to do every job together'
After Jonathan Bailey's kind words on "The View," Matt Bomer added, "I can't even do press without Jonny anymore. Like, we have to do every job together." The actors' joint GQ interview also included Bailey voicing his reverence for the way Bomer helped pave the way for other gay actors via the surfing metaphor.
That interview additionally showed Bailey and Bomer's friendship and the easy way they were able to interact and joke around. In one example, the actors imagined some projects they'd like to be a part of. The co-stars riffed about getting an army of gay actors to play a real gay army in a comedic project inspired by the Sacred Band of Thebes.
However, Bailey did worry about bothering Bomer during the filming of "Fellow Travelers." At that time, Bailey was also working on the upcoming "Wicked" movie and the third season of "Bridgerton." He admitted to People that he might have been disruptive to Bomer while practicing his dance moves for "Wicked," saying, "Poor Matt. We shared a two-way trailer, so whenever I was dancing, I think I was rocking him either awake or to sleep."