Matt Bomer is best known for playing big-city characters in projects like “White Collar,” “The Normal Heart,” and “The Last Tycoon,” so his role in the independent film “Walking Out” as a gruff Montana hunter trying to bond with his teenage son (Josh Wiggins), seems like a departure. But it actually hits much closer to home. “I grew up in a house full of outdoorsmen and that type of male bonding exhibited in the film,” Bomer says in our exclusive video interview (watch above). “That type of outdoorsmanship and male bonding through quiet and unspoken connection, not really sure how to connect, was something I understood from my childhood, and I thought they were able to tap into it in a really profound way.”
The characters in the film brave the elements and endure hardships in the wilderness, and to an extent so did the actors. “This was not the type of set wear we were going to be coddled in any way,” Bomer explained. “There were no trailers, there were no cast chairs, there were no apple boxes. You stood in the snow between takes and got ready for the next scene, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way to be honest with you.”
Not only are Bomer and his on-screen son alone in wild, they’re also the only actors on screen for much of the film, which provided them the opportunity to “bond and create a relationship and … get to know each other in a way that sometimes you don’t get to with other co-stars.” Commenting on Wiggins’s performance, Bomer says, “He’s a superstar … He has this great thing that you can’t really teach: he’s so intuitive, and he has a great lack of self-awareness and a lack of vanity that you need, but it’s hard to find in younger actors.”
“Walking Out” premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival, and IFC Films released it on October 6 to strong reviews. Do you think it could be a dark horse awards contender this season?
Be sure to make your Oscar nomination predictions so that Hollywood studio executives and top name stars can see how their films are faring in our Academy Awards odds. Don’t be afraid to jump in now since you can keep changing your predictions until just before nominees are announced on January 23. And join in the fierce debate over the 2018 Oscars taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our film forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
