Matt Bomer split the tea on the popular blockbuster film he turned down. 

In a recent interview with Variety, the White Collar actor revealed that he almost starred in the hit film Barbie as one of the Kens.

Directed by Greta Gerwig, the film follows a “stereotypical” Barbie (Margot Robbie) who resides in Barbieland, a matriarchal society where women are self-sufficient and occupy all positions of power.

“I recorded it on my own, played a bunch of different Kens – and I dressed differently for all of them,” he explained to the publication. 

“I recorded the lines of the other person’s dialogue on my recorder and then gave myself space to respond.” 

Bomer went on to say that he ultimately walked away from the opportunity because he didn’t want to spend an extended time away from his husband and two children. 

While the dreamy talent didn’t join the record-breaking film, he was able to use his availability to focus on the LGBTQIA+ limited series Fellow Travelers, which was greenlit in 2022.

Speaking on the project, Bomer said: “You get to a place where when an opportunity like this comes along, you just don’t want to fuck it up.

“At a certain point, you’ve just got to keep moving forward and not wait for society to catch up to you.” 

The American Horror Story star also dished about his character Hawkins Fuller, describing him as a “bad boy.”

 

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“What was fun about his character is that I got to be the bad boy. My strategy was always to be the good boy as a kid,” he explained. 

“So I actually got to externalize and have fun with a lot of things that I never had the opportunity to do – when I was in a circumstance that was comparable to Hawk’s in some ways.”

Towards the end of his interview, Bomer expressed his hopes for other queer actors to take on LGBTQIA+ projects like Fellow Travelers.

“I want more queer actors to have opportunities to play roles like this and to be trusted with roles like this. I’d be lying to you if I said that wasn’t in the back of my mind,” he added.  

Based on Thomas Mallon’s novel of the same name, the Ron Nyswaner-directed show chronicles the volatile romance between Tim Laughlin (Jonathan Bailey) and Hawkins Fuller (Bomer), who meet in the shadow of McCarthy-era Washington.

Fellow Travelers also stars Jelani Alladin (The Walking Dead: World Beyond) as Marcus, Allison Williams (Get Out) as Lucy and Noah J. Ricketts (American Gods) as Frankie.

The official synopsis for the series reads: “Over the course of four decades, we follow our five main characters – Hawk, Tim, Marcus Lucy, and Frankie – as they cross paths through the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, while facing obstacles in the world and in themselves.”

Fellow Travelers airs Saturdays on Paramount Plus in the UK. 

For more Fellow Travelers content, check out our in-depth interview with Jonathan Bailey here.