Fellow Travelers’ Ron Nyswaner – Smalltown Outsider to Tinseltown Insider

This season, Showtime premiered the series Fellow Travelers, an ambitious, beautifully woven multi-era-spanning love story between two men as they fight the odds of societal norms, family pressure, and personal demons. Starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey in undeniably career-topping performances, the series is based on the novel by Thomas Mallon and brought to television by Academy, Emmy, and Golden Globe-nominated writer and director, Rony Nyswaner. No stranger to telling our stories, Ron has been infiltrating Hollywood with subjects that include homosexuality, AIDS, homophobia, and LGBTQ activism, in works that include Philadelphia with Tom Hanks, Showtime’s Soldier’s Girl, and The Policeman with Harry Styles. His craft captures characters in a gripping and visceral way, something that was inspired by dealing with his sexuality in his youth.

In this episode, we talk with Ron about how being an outsider as a kid shaped his future career, we also talk about religion, the evolution of Hollywood, overcoming addiction, loss, being an openly gay writer in the 80s, expressing gay sexuality on the screen, and gay activism; we also chat about the behind the scenes look at Fellow Travelers, finding the joy in struggle, and more. Yeah, we talk about it all! Check it out.

Hosted by Alexander Rodriguez.

You can watch Fellow Travelers on Showtime and check out our in-depth chat with him in the current issue of Metrosource on newsstands or at Metrosource.com