Intro for June 3, 2024

Dear Gossips,   

Nominations voting for the Emmys begins in less than two weeks so the For Your Consideration campaigning, at this stage anyway, is at full blast. 

Over the weekend there was an FYC event for the acclaimed series, Fellow Travelers, starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey. According to Variety Fellow Travelers has submitted in 23 categories including Outstanding Limited Series, with Matt hoping to be included in the Lead Actor (Limited) category as well as a producer. The leading contenders in the category are Andrew Scott for Ripley, Richard Gadd in Baby Reindeer, and Jon Hamm in Fargo. 

Jonathan, meanwhile, won the Critics’ Choice Award in the supporting category for his performance in Fellow Travelers and he’s been submitted in the same category for the Emmy. I didn’t see any photos of him at the event over the weekend but it’s not like people aren’t already seeing him in the early parts of Bridgerton season three, finally giving us the horny Anthony and Kate content we were robbed of in season two. 

Fellow Travelers is horny too. Super horny. The entire series is beautifully shot, the story is intense and provocative, the performances are layered and thoughtful – and the love scenes between Matt and Jonathan, if you’ve seen it you know, are HOT AS F-CK. We’ve been talking here and there about the sexlessness of movies and television these days and, well, that’s not a problem where Jonathan Bailey is concerned. As Anthony Bridgerton, Jonathan is giving us all the sexy with Kate Sharma; as Tim in Fellow Travelers he’s giving us all the sexy with Matt’s Hawke Fuller. Would this have been possible 20 years ago? For an actor to be cast as the romantic male lead in a story about a straight couple and also the romantic supporting lead in a story about a queer couple? 

There is a lot of discussion and debate about casting straight actors to play queer characters and whether or not that’s fair; those who insist that the practice should continue say that an actor should be able to play queer even if they’re straight because acting is acting. But then let that apply the other way as part of the discourse. Openly queer actors should be able to play any character too, including the heartthrobby straight ones. In addition to personal safety and risk of alienation and blacklisting, this was one of the fears for too many years: that once an actor came out they’d no longer be considered for romantic roles, especially since most Hollywood romances are about straight people. Jonathan Bailey and Andrew Scott too (Hot Priest) are proving that that’s not an issue. See also Colman Domingo. As for Matt Bomer, well, LOOK AT HIM. Who is complaining about seeing more of Matt Bomer, period, and in love scenes with anyone? 

Yours in gossip, 

Lainey