‘Mid-Century Modern’ Star Nathan Lane On Making A “Joyously Gay” Sitcom & Working With The Iconic Linda Lavin: “She Was Beloved By Everyone”

It’s hard to find an actor with the talent of Nathan Lane, especially someone who has the ability to make you laugh in one moment and cry in the next. So, it’s no surprise that when David Kohan and Max Mutchnick created Mid-Century Modern, the role of Bunny was already tailor-made for Lane. If that wasn’t special enough, this series — co-starring Nathan Lee Graham and Matt Bomer, and often referred to as the “gay Golden Girls” — gave him the opportunity he’d always dreamed of: the chance to work with Broadway legend Linda Lavin, who sadly passed away during production. 

DEADLINE: How did you get involved with Mid-Century Modern?

NATHAN LANE: I was in Los Angeles, about to start Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, and Ryan Murphy called and said he had had a dinner with Max Mutchnick who told him about this script and thought it was hilarious and, even though he had never done a multi-camera situation comedy in front of a live audience before, if he was going to do one, this was the one he wanted to do. And he said they had written it with me in mind and then mentioned that it was kind of a “gay Golden Girls”. I read it and I thought it was extremely funny and touching and a great setup for a potential series.

DEADLINE: Did you also see it as a gay Golden Girls when you started reading it?

LANE: No. I don’t think Max and David did either. It was just a quick elevator-pitch way of saying this is kind of the world we’re entering. Yeah, it seems to have become something that people have latched on to in an obsessive way. It’s about a group of older friends and they move into my home where I’m living with my mother, so there is that similarity, but I think it goes off on its own path… But you can’t stop people from trying to decide who’s Dorothy and who’s Blanche and Sophia and all of that. So, as we’ve been saying, if it gets people to tune in, great. But it’s a very different kind of show ultimately than The Golden Girls. The Golden Girls was a wonderful show, and it still lives on today. And God bless them all, but I think this turns out to be a different kind of show.

DEADLINE: One thing that I really enjoy about the show is that lot of it is about queer joy amidst the drama, rather than just sad stories which I feel like we’re used to seeing. Can you talk a little bit about telling those stories in this climate with this format?

LANE: It’s such a different animal doing this in front of a live audience every week. We’re doing a little one-act play, so it’s a wholly different kind of energy than a single-camera show. And the parameters of what is a comedy or a situation comedy has widened to a point that people are questioning what is. We look like we’re doing commedia dell’arte. It almost needs its own category of other multi-cams in front of a live audience. As far as the tone of the show, because we’re on Hulu, there is a lot more freedom. There are several veteran writers from Will & Grace, so there is that tone to it, although they go much further. 

With the first season, you’re trying to figure out what the show is. The advantage I think we all had, aside from a great writing staff and a leader like James Burrows, who’s basically the godfather of the situation comedy, is that there was an instant rapport and camaraderie with this cast because we all come from the theater. Certainly, Linda and I knew each other from the theater, but we had never worked together and that made this extremely special.

I was just a huge fan. I had seen her in the Neil Simon play Broadway Bound, for which she won the Tony. It’s one of the most unforgettable stage performances I’ve ever seen.

Nathan Lane on the late Linda Lavin

And they were also writing very, very funny stories that ranged from the frivolous, of hiring a hot housekeeper, to the political, where Matt winds up being pegged by a congresswoman not unlike Lauren Boebert who turns out to be a hot mess party girl, to that wonderful episode where Matt meets his daughter on a flight from California to New York, whom he hasn’t seen in years, and it’s very beautiful. And to the episode that no one wanted to write and we hoped that nothing like that would ever happen, but the episode after Linda passed, they really rose to the occasion and were able to pay tribute to her in a beautiful way as well as keep the show going. And I thought they really knocked it out of the park. 

I think it would have remained the Golden Girls if they had cast two other men in their 60s, but because Ryan Murphy said, “What about Matt Bomer for this character of Jerry?” and Max and David had worked with Matt and loved working with him, and they thought, “Oh, we hadn’t really thought of that.” That all led us into, maybe now it’s really more of a show about gay men at different stages of their lives, which I think has made it more interesting for different kinds of stories.

DEADLINE: How did Linda Lavin get involved with the show?

LANE: I think there were many names bandied about, and then, finally, it was a process. I mean, I was involved when Nathan Lee Graham came in and we read together. There were a few other people, but it was obvious he was the guy. He was it. And then Matt, of course, was Ryan Murphy’s suggestion. And I know Matt because he’s married to my publicist of 30 years, so I’ve known him socially, but we’ve never worked together. He’s a total sweetheart and such a fantastic actor. 

The original conception of Linda’s role was sort of based on [fashion icon] Iris Apfel. The notion was she had white hair and huge glasses, those big, black glasses that looked like they were created by Pixar, and bracelets and scarves and lots and lots of colors and fabulous dresses, et cetera. And so, finally, the notion was, should they cast a little younger like with Estelle Getty and then put a white wig on the person.

Finally, thankfully, it was Linda Lavin. They finally decided that, which was a no-brainer. And, of course, Linda said, “But I look fabulous. I don’t want to wear a white wig, hide behind big glasses. I don’t want to do that kind of transformative character performance. I just want to look great, as great as I look at 87.”

It’s so joyously gay, without shame, and just reveling in their gayness. That’s upsetting to some people, but I think it’s healthy and it’s great for people to see that men of a certain age are still out there living their lives openly and freely and having a great time doing it

Nathan Lane

I was just a huge fan. I had seen her in the Neil Simon play Broadway Bound, for which she won the Tony. It’s one of the most unforgettable stage performances I’ve ever seen. And I’d seen her in an off-Broadway, and it was three one-acts [Death defying Acts]. One [titled Hotline] was written by Elaine May and it was just her on a suicide hotline. She was heartbreaking and screamingly funny. She was just somebody I greatly admired, and so, whenever we would meet, we would say, “I really hope we get to work together.” This was incredibly meaningful and she had reached this great place in her life where she was just so kind and loving and gracious and fun… She was just a remarkable actress who could easily do comedy or drama and just… She was beloved on that set by everyone.

DEADLINE: I can’t imagine anyone else in that role other than Linda Lavin. She was perfect.

LANE: Well, I mean, you would never guess she was 87. We were in shock when she died, it was like… even though she was 87. That’s how vital she was. She’s just indelible, and it was very difficult to come back to finish those last three episodes when she wasn’t there. It was just… We all had to go through the grieving process and, at the same time, do that particular episode.

DEADLINE: What do you think the importance is of having this kind of show out now in this political climate where it really seems like the government is trying to erase the LGBTQ+ community?

LANE: Well, yeah, I would say we’re on their to-do list in terms of gay marriage. I think it’s very important. We see people protesting in all 50 states, what’s going on. It’s not just tariffs, people’s rights are being attacked. I just think it’s healthy for the environment. Look, there are 365 million people in this country. This is not a show for everybody. Just as Yellowstone has its demographic, we have ours. And it’s not going to be to everybody’s taste because it is naughty and because it’s so joyously gay, without shame, and just reveling in their gayness. That’s upsetting to some people, but I think it’s healthy and it’s great for people to see that men of a certain age are still out there living their lives openly and freely and having a great time doing it and figuring it out; figuring out trying to grow old gracefully.

Is it going to change any minds? I don’t know about that. Trump, if he knew we were on the air, would probably try to shut it down, come after Hulu. But, I think it’s a great thing to have right now, in the midst of books being banned and, “Don’t say this and don’t say gay and don’t do that.” I think it’s a perfect time for a show like this. It goes back to the very roots of situation comedy. We’re doing it like I Love Lucy and The Honeymoonersfolks, so either you find that refreshing and fun or you go, “Oh, it’s like we’re making them use a VCR.” We go out and we have to be funny because 300 people are staring at us.We’ll see what happens with our little gay skit. We’re not in the cool kids’ club, let me put it to you that way, but I think we’re doing an honorable job.