How an All-Gay Cast Empowered 'The Boys in the Band' Stars

Netflix's take on the groundbreaking LGBTQ+ Tony-Award winning play The Boys in the Band premiered last week, and PRIDE spoke with the cast about moments that resonated with them, lessons viewers can learn, and the power of nine openly gay actors playing these iconic queer characters. 

The film centers around a birthday dinner that delves into madness when the men, led by Jim Parsons' character Michael, begin taking out their insecurities on each other during a particularly wicked party game. The film achingly captures the strength and self-loathing it took to live a gay life in the 1960s. 

The original film came out in 1970, a much riskier time to be open about your sexuality in terms of employment and even safety. "When we made The Boys in the Band, you couldn’t say you were gay and get a job," the original film's director William Friedkin told the New York Post. Fifty years later, nine openly gay actors now play these roles with pride. 

"I've never worked with so many gay actors at the same time," star Jim Parsons tells PRIDE. "It was meaningful to me. It was an experience unlike any that I'd had. It's hard to even lay a finger on it but there was a feeling of belonging that I didn't know I was missing that I felt."

And Parsons' costar Zachary Quinto agrees. "I think it's significant if only to acknowledge the fact that here are nine openly gay actors, all of them are thriving and successful in our own ways," he points out. "When you juxtapose that to the sacrifices that the original cast had to engage and confront in their decision to take on these roles, I think it's a real momentous opportunity to see how far we've come."

"In terms of the vibe, we were living for each other on that set," he laughs. 

"It was sort of like this unspoken comradery that we had from the beginning," Brian Hutchinson added. "I'm used to being the only gay person in the room so it is a little disarming and wonderful. 

Robin de Jesus believes the behind-the-scenes chemistry and understanding of each other translated to the screen. "The visual of us, nine out gay men, that matters," he says. "There are nuances that we understand. There's math we don't have to calculate because we lived those experiences. The nine of us, there are just these magical moments that maybe would've been looked over that we know not to look over. Ultimately it just adds to the depth of the story."

Tuc Watkins agrees, even calling the energy empowering. "The way that you hold yourself among other gay men, people you feel safe with, is different than playing someone who is experiencing that." 

Director Joe Mantello confirmed that it transformed the energy on set, but hopes we get to a point where more gay actors get opportunities to play straight characters and are celebrated for it. "It informs the work in a completely different way, I am proud of that in regards to this project," he says. "I dream of the day where it's notable when gay actors play straight parts which doesn't...I think that would be a remarkable achievement. Or we don't even talk about someone's sexuality, we just talk about them as actors."

The Boys in the Band is streaming on Netflix now.