Original-Cin Q&A: The cast and director of Netflix's The Boys in the Band talk about Broadway, film and waiting for Jim Parsons to finish playing Sheldon

What super-producer Ryan Murphy wants, he gets - and that includes a re-done classic play in the canon of modern gay history. 

Written by Mart Crowley in 1967, The Boys in the Band premiered Off-Broadway in 1968. The play revolves around a group of gay men who gather for a soul-baring birthday party in New York City with unearthed emotional scars and trauma, and was groundbreaking for its portrayal of gay life.  It was adapted into a feature film in 1970, directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist ).

In  2018 Ryan Murphy backed the Broadway revival production of The Boys in the Band. Not only was it a financial success on the Great White Way, it won the Tony Award in 2019 for Best Revival of a Play.

There’s pain beneath Zachary Quinto’s partying in Netflix’s version of Broadway’s The Boys in the Band.

Murphy (Nip/Tuck, Glee, American Horror Story) decided to reunite all nine of the show’s original actors (Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer, Brian Hutchison, Andrew Rannells, Charlie Carver, Robin de Jesus, Zachary Quinto, Tuc Watkins, and Michael Benjamin Washington) for a Netflix film, which begins streaming Sept. 30.

Our Bonnie Laufer spoke to Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer, Brian Hutchison, Charlie Carver, Robin de Jesús, Zachary Quinto, Tuc Watkins, and Michael Benjamin Washington (8 of the actors)  and director Joe Mantello about reviving this Tony Award winning hit for the screen. 

Here are some excerpts from those interviews. 

To watch Bonnie’s complete interviews with the cast please click HERE. 

 ON HAVING THE SAME ACTORS FROM THE PLAY IN THE FILM 

Joe Mantello - DIRECTOR

“It was wonderful to have the opportunity to work with this cohesive ensemble of actors, but individually they had been living with these characters in their heads for about a year before we started to shoot the film. 

“That just created something magical with these guys. I've heard other actors say that they like to do a run of a play, have some time off and come back to it and something just happens. It becomes effortless in some way and I think you certainly see that on screen.”

ON HAVING THE OPPORTUNITY TO REVISIT THESE CHARACTERS

Jim Parsons ( Michael) 

“I was a little hesitant when I first heard that we were going to make this into a film, and not for any reasons of not wanting to go there again. 

“My only hesitation was the fear that the summer we spent on Broadway was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. And in all honesty, I worried that revisiting it would pale in comparison. 

“The exact opposite was true. It just added on and capitalized upon an already wonderful experience, and all that credit is due to the people involved. This group has been so important to me and changed my life and I'm just very proud to be a part of it.”

Zachary Quinto ( Harold) 

“It was amazing to revisit this character, and having the opportunity to flesh him out even more was a true gift. I've never had an experience of having the foundation of a play under my feet as we walked onto set.

“It was really unique and rewarding carrying its own weight and familiarity. The shorthand that we all developed was really incredible.

“All I can say is that if I had to sit in the audience and watch this play, or if I was sitting here watching all of my friends release this movie into the world and I wasn't a part of it,  I think I would take a long walk off a short pier. I can’t tell you enough how happy I am that I made the decision to do it and I'm thrilled to be able to share it with a much wider audience and people from all over the world.” 

COMFORT ZONE OF BEING BACK WITH THE SAME CAST

Charlie Carver: (“Cowboy”) 

“The common denominator between both experiences was reuniting with this amazing cast, having the comfort zone with them and having the same director who knew us all so well.  

“As an actor, I’m lucky to get to explore these different sorts of mediums and delineate a difference  between them. To get to do it with material you are familiar with, and with people you love and  respect, plus to be  in such capable hands of Joe Mantello was seriously a gift. 

“I not only got to explore this text more deeply, but also got to feel out what these different kinds of performances require and  the joys of each of us experienced getting to do that.” 

Michael Benjamin Washington  (Bernard) 

“Before we hit Broadway, we rehearsed for two weeks in Los Angeles because Mr. Parsons was finishing a season of The Big Bang Theory. 

“When it was time to shoot the film a year later, we had a week to go through it on that new set, just to kind of stumble through and get our footing back. And then we shot it sequentially. 

“The beautiful thing was all of these actors are so proficient in both mediums that you can get through a process like that so quickly. And we did trust each other so much that there was just enough time to remember what it was, but not enough time that it got stale again. So the camera really caught fresh performances a year after we did it on Broadway.” 

ON NOT HAVING LIVE AUDIENCE FEEDBACK AND BRINGING THE STORY TO FILM 

Brian Hutchison (Alan) 

“It's not lost on me that it The Boys In The Band was one of the most unique, original and wonderful experiences one could have in a lifetime of work. This is going to be very hard to top and it was an extraordinary time on Broadway. 

Producer Ryan Murphy

“We had sold out the run and performed for amazing audiences. Doing the show on stage you're performing for 800 people. So sometimes there's just the technical challenge of doing it for that many people every performance, and knowing that you have to get your voice out there. 

“You have to be a little bigger in certain moments because, you know, you need to draw focus from what's going on on-stage.  Doing the film was a different experience because we got to  change the script in a way that got certain things across. 

“The camera picks up everything and so you can get away with a lot, even if it’s just a glance or a sip of a drink. This comes across on film in a more impactful way than it would on the stage. So it was amazing to kind of have the option to kind of play and have a new crack at it.”

Robin De Jesus( Emory) 

“The beautiful thing about the New York City theater-going audiences is that they don't give you reactions for free. You’ve got to work for it, and even sometimes when your performance is worthy of a good reaction, they might just have had a day where they don't feel like being verbal.  

We had many performances on Broadway where there wasn’t a peep from the audience. Not that we did anything different, that's just the general mood that was in the air. So that was kind of like a lesson into what the movie would be like.  But also as an actor, I'm always looking for stimulation and validation.  “I'm always looking to find something new and if I don't have to pause for audience laughter, there is always something else that starts happening between me and the other actors. So if I allow  the audience to overtake what I am doing, I'm missing out on this new magic that's happening between me and my fellow actors.”

Tuc Watkins   ( Hank) 

“This is not a film version of the play, it's actually staged differently. They didn't set up a camera and we just shot what we did. It's a very cinematic, rich and a very  different experience. 

“In fact, the first few minutes of the movie we get to see what these characters are doing before they all gather in the apartment for the party, ending with what these guys go off and do after this noteworthy evening. 

“I think it's real. It's a beautiful piece of art that shows  well on the stage and on the screen. But on screen, it was a gift to be able to flesh out the story and these characters in a whole new light.” 

ON HAVING A WORLDWIDE AUDIENCE SEE IT ON NETFLIX

Jim Parsons

“I hope that more people will be introduced to this beautiful work. It's not only a retelling of moment in gay history, but such a beautiful tale of what it is to be a human and to go through life and accept yourself and accept others. The idea that it's going to get be that accessible to that many eyeballs around the globe is really profound.” 

Matt Bomer (Donald)

“I think what makes the play so important to tell right now, is that it's about the cost of oppression, and what happens when society wants to marginalize you and tell you you don't deserve the same rights, you don't deserve the same treatment. And it’s about how that can affect people. 

“This group of friends, they're like family. They've come together, and they have their ugliest moments in front of each other, but they're going to be there again for each other the next night and for many nights after that.  

“They're doomed to repeat this night over and over again until something changes, and sure enough, thankfully, months after this was originally written,  Stonewall happened. 

“You don't have to look too far today to see what the cost of oppression is, and to see what it means to have the need for change. So, I think it's especially relevant that it's coming out right now and it’s beyond exciting that an audience this huge will have the opportunity to see it.” 

Charlie Carver

“On the one hand I hope that this will confirm global solidarity and community in the LGBTQ community, because I'm sure they will  be excited to tune in.  At the same time this has a wide appeal and it is a wide release and I think it's just very endearing. 

“Thankfully, we live in a time where things have changed for gays and it's not 1968. We can see these characters as humans and as individuals and not solely as representatives of a community that's sort of unknown. 

“So these characters are endearing and when you're endeared to humans, fictitious or real, it just engenders community and I think the play did that. Then to take what the play did and release it on a global scale is super exciting for all of us.”