Getting to know Luke Macfarlane, Bros’ other leading man
Since the news broke about the making of Bros in 2021, a lot attention has been given to Billy Eichner as the writer and star of the first gay romantic comedy backed by a major Hollywood studio.
But what about his costar Luke Macfarlane? Well, he’s certainly been mentioned in the press releases and featured in the trailer, however little has been heard directly from the man himself. Variety sought to rectify that by having Senior Culture & Events Editor Marc Malkin interview the leading man during, of all things, a workout session.
Unsurprisingly, working out is a key interest for Macfarlane, 42, who came to the workout/ interview with his longtime trainer Tyler Lough, a former Abercrombie & Fitch model.
“His (Macfarlane’s) favorite thing to do is drive across the country and stop at gyms along the way,” Lough said with a laugh.
During the course of the interview Macfarlane opened up about authenticity, coming out in Hollywood, his sex scenes in Bros, and of course, his favorite exercises.
Luke Macfarlane grew up in London, Ontario and is a graduate of the prestigious Julliard School. He’s had a very steady career in show business starting both his television and movie careers in 2004 with the miniseries Tanner on Tanner and the feature film Kinsey. His first major break came in 2006 when he was cast in the hit TV show Brothers & Sisters where he played Matthew Rhys’ husband Scott Wandell until 2011. Since then, he has starred in several Hallmark Christmas movies, playing the lead in many of them. Most recently he starred in Netflix’s Single All the Way last year alongside Michael Urie, one of the first gay themed Christmas movies. He will follow that up as Billy Eichner’s leading man in Bros playing Aaron, a “straight acting and appearing” lawyer with commitment issues.
The hunky actor came out during an interview with a Canadian newspaper while starring on Brothers & Sisters, seemingly against the wishes of his then agent:
“When I mentioned [coming out] to my agent at the time, what I heard back was, ‘You know you don’t have to do that,’” Macfarlane said. “And I was like, ‘Ah, wow. They don’t want me to do this.’ There were not a lot of people that had come out at that point. It was before Neil Patrick Harris. It was before Zachary Quinto and Matt Bomer.”
With respect to how it impacted his career he said: “I came out in 2008 and I think that freaked out a lot of people that might offer me jobs. Hallmark gave me jobs for a long time. And not only just the gay best friend — they let me be a leading man. I’m always going to be very grateful to them for that.”
As the workout continued, we found out his favorite exercise is partner clap push-ups, that he can bench 315 and that he did upwards of 100 crunches a day on the set of Bros to prepare for his sex scenes with Eichner. Apparently, the scenes were fully choreographed by an LGBT-specific intimacy coordinator and also thoughtfully planned and worked out between Macfarlane and Eichner themselves who were very collaborative during the making of the film. While on the topic of sex, Malkin was also able to get the heartthrob to admit that he has had some experience on the gay hook up apps but that he’s no longer on them saying “It’s all very scary.”
Towards the end of the interview, Malkin struck a serious tone by commenting on how important a movie like Bros is and the potential that it has to save lives through encouraging authenticity and highlighting the power of representation, especially for LGBTQ+ youth. When asked his thoughts about that Macfarlane said: “I was very fortunate to be raised by a family and, later on in my life when I went to school, by people that said, ‘Your truth is actually your most valuable thing. So, because of the people that told me that, I have to do the same thing for other people. I believe in my heart of hearts, whoever you are authentically is the thing that’s going to make you successful.”
Bros opens in theaters September 30.
To read Variety’s article or watch the video of Luke Macfarlane’s interview and workout click here.
