Jonathan Bailey Celebrates Ron Nyswaner and Matt Bomer: ‘We Should Always Be Grateful to Them’
On June 6, the 2024 IndieWire Honors ceremony will celebrate 13 creators and stars responsible for some of the most stellar work of the TV season. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, this event is a new edition of its IndieWire Honors event focused entirely on television. We’re showcasing their work with new interviews leading up to the Los Angeles event.
Ahead, “Fellow Travelers” star Jonathan Bailey writes about the many qualities that earmarked the collaboration between our Wavelength Award winners, showrunner Ron Nyswaner and star and executive producer Matt Bomer.
When it comes to celebrating the collaboration of Ron Nyswaner and Matt Bomer, I have to acknowledge how both of them influenced me long before I came onto “Fellow Travelers.” Their work on both sides of the camera has permeated in the same way.
Ron’s writing has always been so significant to me because of his ability to provocatively Trojan-horse brutal truths with tender, human experiences and romances. And this has sculpted my understanding of how to be and how to love. Matt Bomer is someone who visibly made me understand what was possible as I grew up in a world where it seemed that being an out gay actor wasn’t going to be an easy task. There he was — brilliant and visible, a lighthouse.
Now, to see the two of them come together and shine so bright in and around the work of “Fellow Travelers” and to understand the journey it took them both to get to this place, is remarkable. They really are warriors in the same way as Tim and Hawk.
When I first spoke to Ron, he said to me, “This project has been 10 years in the making. It might be my life’s work.” And I replied to him, “Well, whoever you invite to play Tim or any of these characters, it will be their life’s work as well.”
With Matt, we started in Gold Struck Coffee on Cumberland Avenue (the jokes write themselves). The two of us had an hour-long conversation about how we felt, our apprehensions, the opportunity, and the thrill we felt seeing the stories of Tim and Hawk on the page. He led the whole company of actors with such elegant grace and intelligence. He’s a force for good on set and a brilliant friend.
It has been extraordinary to see the work of “Fellow Travelers” celebrated, and that is a reflection of so many people in so many different capacities, but all of whom are being led by these two amazing people, Matt and Ron. And as a society, as a community, and as people who love television, we should always be grateful to them.
