After making his mark in crime dramas like “White Collar” and Ryan Murphy shows like “American Horror Story,” Matt Bomer finally needed a change of pace after bearing his soul for last year’s Showtime limited series “Fellow Travelers.” The 8-episode adaptation of Thomas Mallon’s novel follows two lovers (Bomer and Jonathan Bailey) as they face the Lavender Scare that lasted for most of the late 20th Century. The show dealt with issues ranging from the rise of McCarthyism to the AIDS epidemic that destroyed the gay community throughout the ’80s and ’90s. Exploring these topics took a heavy toll on Bomer, so when he was offered the chance at the light-hearted sitcom “Mid-Century Modern,” he jumped at the opportunity.
“I’m incredibly grateful that I’ve gotten to do these beautiful roles that explored repression. I wouldn’t trade that for the world, and I hope that I get to do more of them someday,” Bomer said in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times. “But after ‘Fellow Travelers,’ I remember thinking, I have to do comedy. I have to laugh. I need joy. And so I guess it started from a really selfish place.”
Described as a blend of Rose Nylund (Betty White) from “The Golden Girls,” Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton) from “All in the Family,” and Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) from “Cheers,” Bomer’s character Jerry is a lapsed-Mormon flight attendant who counters the bitterness and bite of his roommates played by Nathan Lane and Nathan Lee Graham.
“He’s oftentimes the impetus for them all to get out in the world and do something,” Bomer said. “He doesn’t want to just sit and stagnate in the desert. He wants them to have this exciting life and go to Fire Island or go to a concert. He’s oftentimes the one that gets them into harebrained circumstances.”
At the same time, Bomer believes his character can also “break down really easily,” allowing him to traverse an entire range of emotion, but do so in a way that elicits humor rather than tears. Beyond moving past “Fellow Travelers, getting to lean into laughter became even more necessary for Bomer as the world grew darker and darker.
“It taught me to keep my heart open,” he said to the LA Times. “I feel like I came at this whole process like a puppy dog myself, like a golden retriever, just enthusiastic and excited to work with my idols. Increasingly, the world started to feel more and more Orwellian over the course of filming. And so to have a character who forced me to, at least for a certain amount of time every day, keep my heart open and look at things on the bright side and stay enthusiastic and positive was really therapeutic.”
All episodes of “Mid-Century Modern” are currently streaming on Hulu.
