Creator and showrunner Ron Nyswaner instituted two “rules” for sex scenes that he wanted the actors and writers on the set of the decades-spanning gay romance Fellow Travelers to follow.
The eight-part-mini series stars Magic Mike’s Matt Bomer and Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey as two closeted men who fall for each other and embark on a clandestine love affair in McCarthy-era Washington.
The steamy sex scenes in the film were done with the help of an intimacy coordinator and lots of rehearsals, but when it came to writing and filming the scenes, the Oscar-nominated creator also set down some guidelines.
According to an interview with Entertainment Weekly, first Nyswaner quoted famous queer poet Oscar Wilde who said, "Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power."
The second rule was a little more difficult to follow as the writing process went on. "The other rule was that we wouldn't do the same sexual act more than once, or the same combination," he said. "I remember when we were writing episode 8, my co-writers and I said, 'What haven't we done?'"
Based on a novel by Thomas Mallon, the political thriller and epic love story follows the secret relationship between the charismatic Hawkins Fuller (Bomer) and idealistic Tim Laughlin (Bailey) that takes us through pivotal moments in queer history, from the Lavender Scare, to Harvey Milk-era 1970s, to the AIDs crisis of the 1980s.
In order to ensure that Bomer and Bailey could pull off the role of lovers, they did an intimacy read over Zoom and Nyswaner remembers it being “electric.” The actors were reading the scene where Tim and Hawkins first officially meet after first locking eyes at a political party. "I got a text from one of the executives who said, 'Well, that's the first time I've cried in a chemistry read.'"
Fellow Travelers will premiere on Paramount+ with Showtime on October 27 and on Showtime for cable on October 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
