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people & arts Thursday 27 July 2017
Matt Bomer plays haunted whiz kid in ‘The Last Tycoon’

By FRAZIER MOORE mer. The role fits Bomer as to be IN it, but not OF it, to
AP Television Writer comfortably as the rak- be marginalized at times
NEW YORK (AP) — When ish double-breasted suits and kept out of certain
he landed the lead in in which Stahr presides as clubs. That was a close par-
Amazon Prime’s “The Last the studio’s golden boy. allel.”
Tycoon,” Matt Bomer had (Or maybe even more Series creator Billy Ray says
never read the timeless F. comfortably: “Those suits that, while there was a bit
Scott Fitzgerald novella on were so snugly tailored that of a leap of faith in select-
which the series is based. sometimes I had a hard ing Bomer for the role — a
But by chance, he had just time breathing,” Bomer character different from
finished another celebrat- says with a laugh.) any he had played before
ed novel set in 1930s Hol- It’s only the latest ambitious — “one day into pre-pro-
lywood, Nathanael West’s turn by the 39-year-old ac- duction, we knew we had
“The Day of the Locust.” tor, who’s best known from the guy. Who he is, what
“I was contemplating the his six seasons as trans- he’s overcome, what he’s
themes both books deal formed con artist Neal made of himself — all of
with: How do you main- Caffrey on “White Collar,” This image released by Amazon shows Matt Bomer, left, and that gives Matt a kind of in-
tain your artistry in such a but who has also starred Kelsey Grammer in “The Last Tycoon.” sight into what it must have
commercial industry as the in “Magic Mike” and its se- Associated Press been to be Milton Stern-
movies — and can you? quel, the TV film “The Nor- amazing toy that you want picture.” berg turning himself into
And I was thinking about mal Heart” alongside Julia to play with.” What did he discover Monroe Stahr.”
how much Hollywood has Roberts and Jim Parsons, But at the same time, the about his character from In 2011, Bomer married his
changed since that time and on “American Horror Depression is literally at this immersion? longtime partner, publicist
period. And how little has Story: Hotel.” This “Last Ty- Brady American’s studio “I learned a lot about self- Simon Halls, with whom he
really changed.” coon” follows in the foot- gates: a Hooverville of reinvention,” Bomer says. has three sons. He publicly
Before long, Bomer would steps of the 1976 feature homeless people is en- “How you can be born Mil- came out five years ago by
be poring over Fitzgerald’s film directed by Elia Kazan camped beside the lot. ton Sternberg in the Bronx recognizing Halls and their
prose to prepare for his and starring Robert De Niro Meanwhile, the Nazi threat and then become Monroe children while accepting
“Last Tycoon” portrayal. and Robert Mitchum. “Ka- is bearing down on the free Stahr in Hollywood.” an award for his efforts in
To be released Friday, “The zan and De Niro? We’re world — and on Stahr as he Reinvention is a fact of life the fight against HIV and
Last Tycoon” tells of Mon- not trying to replicate the fights to stay true to his ar- for any actor, but it has also AIDS.
roe Stahr (Bomer), a whiz- movie!” exclaims Bomer. tistic vision against political often been part of the plan He grew up in a Hous-
kid film producer with a “But with our series we can and commercial pressures. for Hollywood’s behind- ton suburb in a loving yet
sure eye but a broken heart take the essence of the Bomer meant to stay true the-scenes moguls. In the “church-going-two-to-
— a congenital heart de- original story and fan it out. to Fitzgerald’s vision in his past, many tried to leave three-times-a-week” fam-
fect that means he is living A lot was going on then.” performance. behind their Jewish identity ily, which helps account for
on borrowed time while he A lot is going on with the “I read the novel sev- as they claimed power in a what he recalls as “a little
mourns the recent death series’ lavish production eral times,” he says. “I’d town where anti-Semitism sense of alienation.”
of his wife (and the studio’s values and the dazzling Tin- highlight passages that I once flourished. And, as “But they’re scars that I’m
biggest star). Consumed seltown style it revives. thought were really central with Stahr, they always felt fond of and grateful for, in
with making a perfect mo- “To recreate the 1930s in to the character. I wrote apart from the world they a way,” Bomer says. “Hope-
tion picture that can stand Hollywood is irresistible,” them in my notebook so I dominated. fully, they’ve only helped
as his legacy, he clashes says executive producer could always refer to them That rang familiar for Bomer. me to become more inter-
with his studio boss and Christopher Keyser, speak- as we were going scene by “As a gay man in Holly- esting and compassionate.
father figure, Pat Brady, ing for himself as well as scene. That was my way of wood,” he says, “I certainly Not someone who feels less
played by Kelsey Gram- the audience: “It’s like this trying to keep F. Scott in the understand what it means than or other than.”q

Angelina Jolie reveals Bell’s

palsy diagnosis in Vanity Fair

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An- after learning that she car- Jolie says that when she
gelina Jolie says she devel- ries the gene that made was growing up, she often
oped high blood pressure it extremely likely that she worried about her mother,
and Bell’s palsy last year. would get breast cancer. and she doesn’t want her
The actress-director tells She had her ovaries re- children to worry about her.
Vanity Fair that she credits moved two years later. “I think it’s very important to
acupuncture for her full re- Jolie also opens up about cry in the shower and not
covery from the paralysis, her divorce from Brad Pitt in front of them,” she said.
which was caused by nerve in the magazine’s Septem- “They need to know that
damage and led one side ber cover story , which was everything’s going to be all
of her face to droop. released online Wednes- right even when you’re not In this Jan. 16, 2016 file photo, Angelina Jolie arrives at the world
Jolie has been open about day. Jolie filed for divorce sure it is.” premiere of “Kung Fu Panda 3,” in Los Angeles.
her health challenges in the in September 2016. Jolie says her closest friend The women met in 2002 memoir about the Khmer
past. She wrote in the New She says they care for each has been Loung Ung, when Jolie was on her first Rouge genocide that
York Times about her 2013 other and for their family whose 2000 memoir “First mission for the United Na- claimed her parents and
decision to have a preven- and are “both working to- They Killed My Father” is the tions’ refugee outreach. siblings will premiere on
tative double mastectomy ward the same goal.” basis for Jolie’s latest film. Jolie’s adaptation of Ung’s Netflix later this year.q