By Danny Peary
“I’ve been wanting to play a bad guy for a long time,” Matt Bomer tells FilmInk on the set of The Nice Guys. “[Producer] Joel Silver knew that, and that’s why I’m here. I’ve wanted to do that for a long time, and these were the perfect people to do that with. They’ve given me such great direction and license with the role.”
With his bordering-on-the-ridiculous good looks, Bomer has built his career on a firm bedrock of good guys, lending his innate charm (and rock-hard abs) to the role of Ken in the Magic Mike films, while his finely calibrated sense of smooth was perfect for Neal Caffrey, his crook-turned-crime-fighter in the TV series, White Collar. Bomer’s best notices, however, have been for his beautiful work in the HBO movie, The Normal Heart, where he received an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe for his heartfelt, soulful turn as a young man dying from AIDS.
Despite being surrounded by bigger names and more revered performers, it was Bomer who made the most impact as the saintly Felix Turner. All of which makes his turn in the 1970s-set crime comedy caper flick, The Nice Guys, even more startling. “He’s named John-Boy, because of his resemblance to the Richard Thomas character from [the TV series] The Waltons,” Bomer explains. “He’s the fixer assassin…he’s the guy that they bring in when the initial team can’t get the job done. So we played on ideas about how Spartan he is, and how cold-blooded he is…we really riffed on that. The interesting thing about a role like this is that almost the entire thing is physical – even when he’s not shooting at people, I wanted to change up my physicality as much as I could. I worked on that a lot.”
While banging heads and going toe to toe with Russell Crowe’s hired hardman and Ryan Gosling’s hapless private eye, Bomer’s John-Boy exhibits a gleeful lack of concern for anyone that might get in the way. Does the character have any redeeming qualities? “I have a lot of redeeming qualities going on in my own head, but I don’t know if those make it into the film,” Bomer smiles. “You always have to be your character’s defence attorney. For John–Boy, it’s very much a bottom line thing – he’s in it for the money, and I have my own little inner monologue as to why and how he does what he does.”
Bomer – who will soon be seen in the western, The Magnificent Seven, and the survival drama, Walking Out – was more than happy to be creating the character for writer/director, Shane Black. “I’ve been a huge fan of Shane’s for years,” the actor offers. “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is especially one of my favourite films of the genre. This echoes that in some ways, but in so many other ways, it’s such a brilliant commentary on today’s world. Even though it takes places in the 1970s, it has so much to say about where we are now, and I was really excited to get to work with everyone on the film.”
One of Hollywood’s few openly gay leading men (Bomer is married to publicist, Simon Halls, with whom he has three children), Matt Bomer is now making a happy habit of creating characters rich in nuance and complex shading. Does he always dig for the subtext? “It really depends on the writing and the piece,” Bomer replies. “It really is interesting when I watch other actors, and I see those different surfaces and what’s underneath. If I’m lucky enough to have that shine through, it’s a good day. I work towards that, but I don’t know if I’m always successful.”
The Nice Guys is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital. Make sure to check out FilmInk’s interviews with stars, Ryan Gosling and Angourie Rice, and director, Shane Black.
