The cast and creators of the beloved HBO half-hour put their most vulnerable experiences into the script.
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Michael, youd written a pilot that was originally set in New York, right?
How didLookingget to HBO?Michael Lannan:It was a very long process.
Most meetings are like, Oh, lets find something to work on together, and you never do.
But from the start, we all had a sense of the opportunity ahead of us.
We had all the same references.
At what point did you settle on San Francisco as the setting?M.L.
:So theres this show calledGirlsthat came out while I was developing this.
We had a round of discussions about what it would be.
So they sent me to San Francisco.
I was like, San Francisco?
So on the nose.
What was it like auditioning for the show?Lauren Weedman:I dont remember reading the script.
I remember we got to improv.
He read Murrays role.
I was able to be myself in it, and that was so fricking fun.
And I was like, Okay, Ill work on it.
The three of us had instant chemistry.
We really felt it that day.
Jonathan Groff:I auditioned in L.A.
I had seenWeekend,and I was a puddle after that movie was over.
I was so blown away and had never seen a gay movie or show that felt so relatable.
And then when I heard the director of that was directing this pilot, I got really excited.
It was the scene with Richie when hes hitting on Patrick on the train in the pilot.
I was like,Whoa.
I felt actually hot.
:Thats because you werent playing, you were revealing.
:Yeah, exactly!
I kind of left on a high from that audition.
:That reminds me of a story.
:And then we were in the Pride Parade together!
I came out in 2009, and by 2013, we were at the front of the parade!
I got cast very last minute.
:Basically, Raul and I made this short in a random apartment in Brooklyn for no money.
It was an incredible experience, and it was so clear that he had something special.
Obviously, I wanted Raul in the show.
Raul, if I didnt advocate for you enough in the first round, Im sorry!
So it came back around in a way that it needed to.
So I got to see the pilot, and I was like,Oh my God.
I fell in love with it so hard.
I was like a pathetic dog trying to scratch at the door and get involved.
That whole first season was magic.
Michael and Andrew were so open and kind and generous.
And then I made Jonathan douche!
I wanted everyone to get naked more!
:If youve got an ass, get a fork!
I was like, Oh my God, we did that!
:Everywhere I could!
Although, I later became friends with Shirley MacLaine, whos now 90-something.
I got her to watchLooking, and she said, That is quite a show.
I really enjoyed it.
One note too much kissing.
[Laughs]
L.W.
:No kissing, just fucking.
Is that the shows point?
:Straight to the bottom-ing!
Did you feel the sense of these characters becoming expressions of yourselves?J.G.
:To me, almost to an embarrassing point.
I was figuring it out as I went along and offering up vulnerable truths.
And then I got to act that out!
It was a great gift.
It was like actual therapy.
Im curious, writing it and also playing it, what it was like to see that relationship.M.L.
Its a very special bang out of relationship.
:Did they want it that much in the show at the beginning?
Its not only this amazing part that feels so right, its a good job on top of it!
And then my manager calls and says, Theres good news and bad news.
:I love how all the tough questions are coming out a decade later!
I actually think that was probably more about casting and budget and the politics of the studio than anything.
:Say no more!
And it was all due to our desire, in the writers room, to get something more interesting.
:Dom and Doris were the comic relief sometimes.
They lightened the mood.
It calls for it.
Everyone had to call upon that.
You felt it all around you.
:And no assholes!
Like, usually theres one person who fucks everything up, right?
Theres an enveloping sense of the friendship between the men in the series.
Theres a moment at the end of the first season that has aGolden Girlsreference.
How did you land on that as a moment?M.L.
:I believe it came from Andrew Haigh and his partner, Andy.
When we were shooting, Andrew would go home and Andy would haveTheGolden Girlson.
Thats a really special thing about television you get to watch people be friends.
Watching them watchTheGolden Girlsmade me think,Theyre friends and they remind us how to be friends.
There was so much discourse about exactly whatLookingwas depicting.
Is itGirlsbut with gay men?
Or was itSex and the City?
I also think it was an era of lots of internet opinionating.
So people had thoughts!
I thought it was beautiful, because itmattered!
Of course, Im not the writer.
Much worse to be the writer.
[Laughs] The reaction it felt like it really mattered.
:Also, I think it was a reaction to the AmericanQueer As Folkin a way.
We knew it was gonna pull against expectations in some ways.
I dont know if that landed with some folks who had different expectations.
Also, the rollout was weird.
It didnt project queerness in the marketing.
It was sort of like people!
It was very vague.
I think the way you roll out a show is very much how its received in some ways.
:I was shocked to see our gentleness attacked in such an aggressive way by what people were typing.
They heard criticism and they applied it, but they didnt change what the core of the show was.
And I think thats why were here, because you had such a specific point of view.
But it was so hard for you guys!
I remember it was coming from every angle.
Do you have memories of favorite places you got to film in San Francisco?
Especially in that moment in time, because that city has changed so much.M.L.
It was crazy and beautiful.
When that happened, I was like, Wow, this really is a simulation.
It was so hot, by the way.
M.L.:Temperature-wise?
:No, sexual tension!
It was like your heart and your soul knew that we gotta go in on this.
It felt like an artistic, transcendent moment.
It was such a special thing to be inside of your memory of your first kiss.
You were channeling something.
The storytelling thing was happening.
They wanted to get the little orphans, is that what its called?
LW:Orphan Annies.
And it was quiet in San Francisco in the Castro.
This is a part of it!
