Everybody thinks that equality comes from identifying people, and that's not where equality comes from.

Matt Bomer

Categorized in : Thinking People Identifying

Having done television for almost 20 years now, a pilot is kind of like a rough draft. It's like bringing people into your ultrasound and hooking up to the monitor and going, "Isn't my baby beautiful?" "Yeah. I can only see the outline of it, but it looks like it might be."

ultrasounds beautiful baby

Billy [Ray] is a preternatural enthusiast. He would say things to me like, "Now, let me tell you about Episode 3." I'm a big superstitious, having done television for quite some time, and I would say, "Billy, I can't wait to hear about it, but let's just stay here for right now, see what happens, and enjoy this moment.

rays done waiting

I think Billy Ray has a lot of great stories up his sleeve. I've heard a lot of his plans for the show, should it go forward, and I think there's a lot in store for people, if it's given a chance.

rays people thinking

I had just finished reading The Day of the Locust when this piece was brought to my attention, and I was like, "How do you create art in the system, the way it is?" Looking around the studio film landscape, there are all of these great superhero movies, which is fantastic, especially for my kids, but it's hard to find real art house films in the studio system, these days.

real reading art

If you gave your best to what you were given, at the time, it's going to play out how it's going to play out.

I look at a pilot and go, "I see the landscape. I see the characters. I see the direction and the potential of the story." And I also go, "That didn't work. I could change that. Maybe that works. I don't know. We'll see." For me, I look at it, as an actor, as what can I improve upon? So, to have it out there and judged solely on its own merit is really a unique experience for me.

unique character looks

I love that Amazon has this incredibly unique, diplomatic process where people's voices are heard, and we're using this great interconnectedness we have, via the internet, to weigh in and to have a say in what we want to see and what we don't.

voice unique people

Forget horror icon, Kety Bates is an icon. She's an acting icon. I was raised on so many of her films, everything from Misery to Fried Green Tomatoes to Delores Claiborne, all films that I've watched multiple times and been inspired by.

tomatoes icons acting

What is ultimately motivating the character? by Matt Bomer

What is ultimately motivating the character?

Look, none of the artists who I admire or respect have ever shied away from a role because it might make them unpopular with somebody.

artist might looks

I pretty much got busted for everything, but I definitely stretched out my boundaries as a kid, as well.

busted boundaries kids

One of the many things I love about working with Ryan Murphy is that you're always thin-sliced in this business. You walk into a room and people want you to be how you look or how you're perceived or whatever it is in that 10 minutes that hey meet you. I think Ryan [Murphy] has an intuition that looks a little bit deeper and sees things that other people might not see in you - sometimes you might not even see in yourself - but that he knows are there and that he might want to get to grow and stretch with as an actor.

intuition people thinking

It's so rare, especially as a younger actor, to find a role where it's not just one-dimensional and it's not just a stock leading man.

roles actors men

I like not to know, unless it's something that I need to know, specifically, for how I color a performance.

performances color needs

In that Freak Show environment, I got to spend time with so many of the actors who were part of that world. I just had the best time ever.

freak actors world

The best experience for me at CMU was being on stage so much, getting that comfort ability and learning that technique you can use with any type of work because you’re comfortable with it and know your skill as an actor.

technique skills comfort

Certainly when you're dealing with more deep emotional work and sensory work, for me it helps me to just stay in it.

help-me emotional helping

For every role, I brought certain elements of the character. Even on White Collar over six years, I tried to keep the set fun and breezy and Howard Hawks-y and very of the tone of the show.

fun character years

For me, a lot of these actors are new. For me, I only worked with Finn Whittrock and Michael Chiklis. So a lot of these actors are people I've been a huge fan of for years and are bucket-list actors for me to get to work with. It's pretty surreal now getting to step into scenes with them.You all get to find your characters together.

character people years

To me, when you're at a hotel and your home environment is ultimately dictated by somebody else, I always find that a little bit oppressive and scary in a way.

scary home littles