Matt Bomer says he and his The
Normal Heart co-star Mark Ruffalo cried after filming the film's
wedding scene.
Director Ryan Murphy's adaptation of
Larry Kramer's Tony-winning play premiered in May on HBO.
In the movie about the early days of
the AIDS pandemic in New York City, Bomer plays Felix Turner, a
closeted fashion reporter for The New York Times who
is in love with Ned Weeks, the film's protagonist played by Ruffalo.
Felix and Ned
exchange vows in Felix's hospital room shortly before he succumbs to
AIDS.
(Related:
Matt
Bomer, Jim Parsons react to Normal
Heart
Emmy nominations.)
Bomer
discussed filming the emotional scene with AwardsLine.
“Well, at that
point, we were nearing the end of filming, so Mark and I had been on
quite a journey together in terms of Ned and Felix’s relationship,”
he said. “And I came to set, and it was one of those times where I
got in the hospital bed and, you just trust that the physical and
emotional preparation that you put into the material will be there.
And you try to really get out of your own way and let this beautiful
scene that Larry Kramer had written take over. I think I'd worked
with all of the actors in the room already, and so we had a great
deal of trust for each other, and we started on my close up, I
believe.”
“It was one of
those moments where they call 'Action' and the scene just takes over.
After we were done, Mark and I sat together and cried for a good
deal of time, not in any self-congratulatory way. It was about
experiencing through that scene what the reality was for so many
people of that generation. Some of them obviously weren't even lucky
enough to say goodbye that way. I think the situation really hit
home for us and took over. Mark and I were also realizing that we
were coming to the end of an experience that we both committed to for
a long time, and worked with every fiber of our being, to tell as
truthfully as possible.”