Original subtitles

[Applause]

the provocative news series fellow

Travelers is not just brilliant but it's

based on a true chapter in American

history when gay government employees

were hunted down as a national security

risk Matt bulmer and Jonathan Bailey

Stars forbidden lovers with careers that

in DC forc them to live double lives

it's an incredible show take a look at

this

clip okay Hulk I have to ask you a

question you sure you have to ask what

we're

doing I sto thinking if it's right or

wrong or even a sin I don't care but

there is one thing I don't think I could

live

[Music]

with are you going to marry Lucy

Smith please Welcome Matt bommer and

Jonathan

Bailey

[Music]

wow welcome good to be here thank you

for having us yeah well you two are

quite

gorgeous

yeah um so uh Matt this show tells this

love story of two men who are uh

political saffers in DC over the span of

four decades from the s to the ' 80s and

part of the show is about Senator

McCarthy Joseph McCarthy who was just a

nightmare and ruined everybody's life

yeah especially in your situation U what

they call the lavender scare um what the

show deals with they went he went after

gay gay people um tell us about that a

little bit so in 1953 uh Senator

McCarthy and Roy con convinced President

Eisenhower to enact uh an executive

order that banned all lgbtq people from

turned into yes closeted but it turned

into a massive Witch Hunt an estimated

10,000 people lost their jobs multiple

people committed suicide so very dark

chapter in our history they never looked

at the FBI head either yeah he was gay

was there were a lot of yes yes lot of

duplicity duplicity is way put this show

is brilliant it's just I just have to

say it's wonderful and you guys are

excellent in it um Jonathan you play Tim

Who falls in love with Matt's character

Hawk and you said that by the end of

filming you guys were bonded for Life

what made these roles so special for you

well there's something quite Cosmic

about the love story of Tim and Hawk um

and there two Souls that really come

together I love your

accent I love going anywhere where

there's a round of applause for just

being

British um but yes and I think that the

specificity of the queer experience

between the two of them is is is

something that is just sort of

enchanting and it required so much

commitment

from everyone who told the story and so

much like Tim and Hawk I think me and

Matt you know Matt is someone who I've

looked up to because he's been wave

riding a wave of progress for years in

the way that he's conducted his you know

professional personal life so to be

Boogie boarding alongside him on that

wave Now is really it's like his Lov I

can't even do press without Johnny

anymore like we have to do every job

together because it's it's such a unique

thing as you can imagine to do four

Decades of a relationship together and

to have to have intimacy scenes and just

commit so much to a lot of the work we

did it was just a really unique profound

experience well and so many people know

about McCarthy and what he did but they

don't know about this part so I love

seeing a show that has a historical

basis that's teaching people through the

the eyes of your love story but Matt

your character Hawk spends his life um

hiding who he truly is in order to

survive could can you relate to that at

all I mean yeah I I grew up in a little

town in Texas where you know to me the

stakes in high school felt life and

death so I had to buy for Kate and

compartmentalize my life and find a way

to just get out of there and find my own

tribe of people at some point um it's a

great town by the way I love it I love

being from there um but I could relate

to the stakes he was operating under in

some regard yeah yeah wow well um

Jonathan there are some semis seex

scenes they're shut beautifully um in

this show and and seeing a series

focused on a love story about two men is

still something in my opinion we don't

see enough of um have you heard from

people that this show is having a

profound impact on yeah yeah I really

have and it's so grounding especially

when we're talking about it and doing

press as well U to be celebrating

something that's so impactful and uh I

yesterday morning this is I've got a

message that I want to read out I've

changed the name just for anonymity dear

Johnny the likelihood of you seeing this

is

non-existent so I can be entirely honest

as the daughter of a man who lived a

heterosexual life but loved another

another man for almost 40 years oh wow

fellow Travelers has brought me

unbearable pain but also a somewhat

optimistic closure I just wanted to tell

you that your incredible work inspires

people and heals

lives I have even written a poem about

fellow Travelers yes it's rough around

the edges uh but it's heartfelt and I'm

a clinical researcher not a poet my

dad's name was Gregory and he left this

world 20 years ago thank you

Johnny wow I want to hear that poem

I know yeah yeah so just to change that

up a little bit you're in also in the

movie uh Maestro yes which is directed

written starring also besides you Matt

Bradley Cooper yeah really starring

Bradley Cooper car Mulligan that and a

pack of cigarettes I've never seen so

much smoking in a show and and was a

huge you know I know burn the wife also

yeah both of them it was that was what

they did it's about Leonard Bernstein's

life and how you know he was gay and I

guess you call him bisexual he was

married very devoted to his wife just

like Cole Porter in a way you know two

great musicians with wives and then a

gay Lifestyle on the side anyway I was

produced by Spielberg correct and uh

scores yeah no pressure it's a heavy

duty so tell us a little bit about I

hope every actor gets to work with

Bradley he's such a generous and

honestly like an electric director he

told me when I got the job he was like

you'll never see yourself acting if you

take this job and I was like what does

that even mean but he has this style of

directing that just brings you so into

the moment where everything's happening

for the first time on camera he doesn't

do a lot of takes and Spielberg was

there on set for some of the days I you

know him well but for me I I grew up

loving ET was like the first movie I

remember seeing and suddenly he has the

EPK camera and he's you know filming us

while we're rehearsing the scene my

first scene I was trying not to die

while focusing in with Bradley at the

same time but a little intimidated a

little bit absolutely

but you know again it's a testament to

Bradley because somehow I was able to

forget about all that and just tap into

the scene good to know well Jonathan at

the same time that you were filming

fellow Travelers you were also filming

one of my favorites the highly

anticipated third season of

Bridgerton yeah and my other favorite

the upcoming Wicked movie so you're

saying booked and busy let's start with

Bridgeton though give us all the

spoilers what can you tell us three it's

going to be juicy yes no surprises there

but yeah no it's going to be brilliant

I'm handing the the the Baton down to

Luke Newton uh Colin yes the brother and

uh and Nicol who plays Pipi and it's

going to be you know it's just going to

continue to enchant awes I'm really

excited to see it as well well people

are really excited for the wicked movie

as well give us the spoilers for that

one well we all know Wicked and we love

it I know those yeah when it's put on

camera with Cynthia revos it's and is an

incredible actress and hilarious and and

you know Michelle yo won her Oscar she

got off the plane and came straight into

a scene with me and Ari oh my go so I

feel I'm sorry Michelle it was Fall From

Grace but yeah so it's going to be just

amazing and John Chu the director it's

just going to be an expansive version of

it and it's it's going to blow your

mind I can't wait thank you so I do have

a

question so given all of the all of the

symptomatic Behavior we're seeing with

people quickly what do you want people

to take away from MH fellow Travelers 30

seconds the most remarkable thing for me

is that people see themselves in it

people feel seen by the show and that

goes to people in their 20s all the way

through to their 60s 7s it's been an

amazing response and I think as an

artist that's what you're always hoping

to do with your work that people feel

seen and feel more human seeing the show

and then we learn from our history we

don't make the same mistakes and we

understand this sort of world that these

characters are living in is happening

now in the world that we live in being

gay was illegal in Britain up until what

so fellow Travelers is on Showtime right

now if you haven't seen it do yourself a

favor please watch