Out actor Russell Tovey says that he
was “gutted” when he did not land the lead role in HBO's Looking.
The 34-year-old English actor told
Backstage that he originally auditioned for the role of
Patrick on Looking, which went to Jonathan Groff.
“[Looking creator] Andrew
Haigh came to see a play I did called Miracle about four years
ago and he messaged me afterward to say, 'Let's do something some
day,'” Tovey
said.
Auditioning for Patrick was “the most
nerve-racking thing ever,” he said.
“And I flew back and I was convinced
that he'd gotten it. So I got home and in the middle of the night,
checking Twitter, I found out that Jonathan Groff got Looking.
I was totally gutted. They said, 'We love you and we'll write you a
part.' You hear that a lot – and then you never hear anything,”
Tovey said.
In the end, Tovey played the role of
Kevin, Patrick's partnered boss with whom Patrick has an affair.
Tovey
can currently be seen in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's
A View From The Bridge. He'll also reprise the role of Kevin
in the upcoming HBO finale for Looking, which is currently
filming in San Francisco.
(Related: Jonathan
Groff promises “a lot of sex” in Looking
finale.)