‘Brothers & Sisters’ star poised for success
By JAMES REANEY — Sun Media

Luke Macfarlane has gone from Slipnaught to tying the knot.

Back in the 1990s, the London Central secondary school grad was the singer in a hyper-talented young band, Slipnaught.

This weekend, the Juilliard Drama Division-trained Macfarlane’s character, Scotty Wandell, is getting married on ABC-TV’s hit Brothers & Sisters. It airs on ABC tomorrow and Global on Monday.

This weekend’s season finale is the latest stop on a remarkable journey for the London-born actor. Back in the day, you could have seen him here, playing Slipnaught farewell gigs at London clubs.

Universities and colleges in Canada and the U.S. were calling. Macfarlane, 28, made his mark in theatre at Central, where the now-retired Ann MacMillan, department head and “drama queen,” helped lead an exciting program. Macfarlane went to Manhattan on a scholarship and off-Broadway on his talent before moving on to Hollywood. He would also come back to Central to share his war stories.

He was seen in Over There, an FX TV series about American soldiers on their first tour of duty in Iraq. The buzz around Slipnaught fans was that Over There paid enough for Macfarlane to settle his Juilliard bills.

Slipnaught was not your everyday high school band — and the Wandell ceremony is not your cliched TV season-finale wedding. Wandell is marrying Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) in a gay commitment ceremony, making history on U.S. network TV.

“From a standing outside perspective, and also as someone who is gay, I think that it’s a very exciting time,” Macfarlane recently told a Toronto newspaper. “How exciting that we’re saying, ‘This can be part of the cultural fabric, now,’ because it is two series regulars, two people that you invite into your home and you see every week. It’s telling of the beginning of more waves and I’m very proud of that.”

Macfarlane hardly needs a Free Press columnist to second that emotion, but here is one who is happy to do so. Macfarlane should be proud.

So should Brothers & Sisters. Scenes made available to The Free Press show the finale to be a TV wedding to treasure.

There is love, family, tensions, doubts, misunderstandings, rings, bitterness and humour.

There are scenes from any impending marriage, on TV. Or anywhere. Scotty sweetly chides Kevin for seeing him just before the ceremony.

Calista Flockhart’s character, Kitty, recalls an outfit that just “screamed bride” to her and Kevin, her younger brother, when they were children.

“I got carried away. I don’t regret it,” says Nora (Sally Field) of elaborate preparations she has made for the ceremony.

It is hard to believe U.S. network TV has waited until May, 2008 to make such history.

So, ABC has become the Brooklyn Dodgers of the gay wedding day, if you will. Now, which U.S. network will be the Boston Red Sox? For non-baseball fans, that is a U.S. pop culture reference to the way some major-league teams — the Red Sox were the worst, but the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees weren’t much better — simply would not integrate their lineups until years after Jackie Robinson had starred with Brooklyn, starting in 1947.

For now, it is exciting to see a London actor in such a finely poised and powerful slice of U.S. TV. Macfarlane, nicely turned out for the wedding, is in classy company.

It is not so much the cast’s other men — with the slithery Rob Lowe always good for a glimpse of TV noir — who carry Brothers & Sisters.

It is the women in the cast.

Macfarlane finds his own sense of pace and place with Field, Flockhart and other “sisters” including luminous fellow Canadian, Emily Van Camp who plays Rebecca and is even more quietly beautiful than she was on Everwood.

This viewer is not a Brothers & Sisters regular. But if it keeps giving such face time to Macfarlane, the pride of London, and VanCamp, the pride of Port Perry, that will have to change.

Whatever comes along, Macfarlane — and Scotty — can be expected to handle it with the same cool he showed back in the day with Slipnaught.

The London band included Macfarlane and other friends who had met in elementary school at Lester B. Pearson school for the arts.

At various stages, the group was known as Fulcrum or Fellow Nameless. It lasted into the new millennium with various lineups.

It was as Slipnaught that Macfarlane and his friends found out about the rock and roll name game.

Slipnaught was dogged by the similarity of its name to a U.S. death metal rock band, Slipknot. That Slipknot turned out be a scary outfit of several hundred Iowans in clown masks.

Slipknot’s metalhead fans occasionally drove many miles only to find that this progressive, jazzy, smart, charismatic London band, Slipnaught, wasn’t . . . Slipknot.

The crash of a metalhead’s dream is so often ugly, is it knot?

Slipnaught just kept making its own sound and called its first farewell gig “the Final Frontier” — final to indicate the end, but frontier for the unknown future that lies ahead.

That works for the Brothers & Sisters wedding episode, too.

The media buzz around the Brothers & Sisters wedding guarantees at least one thing about Macfarlane’s future.

When Over There’s 15 minutes of fame were over in 2005, Macfarlane was reflective. “Being in Over There is a wonderful thing, but at the same time, I don’t want it to be the highlight of my career,” he said.

Starting this weekend, there is no danger of that.

Direct Link : CANOE - JAM! or London Free Press

It seems like the clip they used on the 30 minutes show and the clip online are a bit different.

Here’s what they showed on the television:

Entertainment Tonight has a little video clip along with a blurb about the season finale of Brothers & Sisters episode 2.16. Jann Carl went to the set and got an interview with Matthew Rhys & Rob Lowe, as show in the clip below.

And here’s their article blurb:

ET was exclusively behind the scenes when “Brothers & Sisters” filmed its season finale — and now we can show you the history-making television event before it airs on Sunday night.

On last week’s episode, Kevin (MATTHEW RHYS) proposed to his same-sex lover, Scotty (LUKE MacFARLANE). This week, the two will celebrate their decision to be life partners with a commitment ceremony officiated over by Kevin’s sister Kitty (CALISTA FLOCKHART).

“It just feels like the natural flow of the Walker family,” ROB LOWE, who plays Kevin’s brother-in-law Senator Robert McCallister, tells ET’s JANN CARL, who is on the set for the event. “It doesn’t feel gratuitous, or really just standout. That’s where Kevin was heading and it’s really organic which is really nice.

“Ten years ago, there wouldn’t have been a gay character portrayed the way the show does in primetime, I don’t think. I also don’t think we would be able to do the same kind of political storylines that I get to do on the show.”

Rob’s character is a Republican senator who voted against gay marriage, even though he has a gay brother. And McCallister’s brother, who is a minister, previously dated Kevin. All that aside, when Kevin realized he forgot to get a ring, the ceremony comes to a halt, until McCallister loans them his.

“There’s a lot of interesting stuff that has been coming up for me, which is good,” Rob continues. “That’s what you want as an actor. You want a lot of paint on your palette to paint with.”

“Brothers & Sisters” airs Sunday night at 10 p.m. on ABC.

Direct Link : ETOnline.Com

Top this: A gay ceremony on ABC’s ‘Brothers & Sisters’
By William Keck, USA TODAY

BURBANK, Calif. — After much anticipation on the set of ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, a wedding cake has arrived. The four-tier creation — adorned with flowers and blackberries — is locked in a freezer, out of sight from the curious cast members, who are wondering what the cake topper looks like.

Spotting a prop woman with the topper in her hands, Matthew Rhys — whose character, Kevin, weds Sunday (10 p.m. ET/PT) in the show’s Season 2 finale — calls her over. “Is it a man and a woman?” he asks. Getting a closer look, Rhys smiles and says, “Oh, it’s two men. Fantastic. There were jokes made that they wouldn’t be able to find two men, so they’d have to doctor the woman by adding a moustache.”

This is no typical TV wedding. It’s a gay commitment ceremony — the first same-sex union on American network TV between series regulars.

“It’s all very progressive, evolved and about time,” says Rhys.

“It’s a milestone, and I was really quite pleased that I got to be a part of it,” echoes Calista Flockhart, who plays Kevin’s big sis Kitty.

The Walker family and guests have gathered in the living room to watch Kevin exchange vows with longtime beau Scotty Wandell (Luke Macfarlane).

Flockhart’s character will officiate at the ceremony while her husband (Rob Lowe) ends up playing a key role — significant because he’s a Republican senator opposed to gay marriage.

During a break, Lowe waltzes off set. “It’s pretty romantic in there,” he notes, greeting his visiting kid brother, actor Chad Lowe, who explains, “I’m here to witness history.”

When Rhys and Macfarlane finally arrive on set in their crisp suits and ties, the cast and crew let out a collective awwww.

There is much affection for the characters, who met at the start of the series. It is a sentiment shared by at least one show fan. Rhys tells of a letter he received from the mother of a gay son. She “took great strength in seeing Kevin interact with his mother, and how little of a problem it is for them,” he says. “It was a lovely letter.”

The note was a pleasant distraction from the good-natured ribbing he has been taking from his co-stars. “Luke and I were rehearsing who was to stand where, which would put one of us in the woman’s position, and a few comments were made,” says Rhys. “And neither of us was going to wear a white suit while the other wore black.”

Dave Annable and Balthazar Getty, who play Kevin’s brothers, have been engaging in their own teasing over Tommy being best man. “Dave’s been locked in his dressing room, crying,” jokes Getty. And Annable retorts: “Balthazar couldn’t handle not being best man.”

Both Sally Field (matriarch Nora) and Emily VanCamp (Rebecca) have come to set nursing colds, and producer/director Ken Olin has noticed that the other actors are avoiding hugging them on camera. Conspicuously absent from the gathering is Sarah’s (Rachel Griffiths) love interest (Steven Weber), who will not return for Season 3. But her character’s two young kids are there, and Griffiths wonders if some viewers will “have a problem with that.”

She hopes not, but the liberal-leaning show does attempt to recognize those who oppose gay marriage by introducing Scotty’s disapproving parents, who skip the ceremony. That volatile relationship is expected to be explored in Season 3. Another possibility: children.

“It would be interesting to go down the adoption route and see from a legal aspect how Kevin would campaign for that,” says Rhys, whose character is an attorney.

Adds Macfarlane: “Kitty makes a speech about Scotty and Kevin building a family, which hopefully is foreshadowing.”

Executive producer Monica Breen assures, “They will be a family. Kevin deserves a stable relationship in the same way that Kitty, Sarah and all the others deserve it. He will be facing many questions in his life — but now he has someone to share that with.”

Direct Link : USA Today

Out in Hollywood has an interview article with Luke MacFarlane, now a series regular on Brothers & Sisters. Greg Hernandez did a small interview with Luke before the event at the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences began. Here’s the article (with permission):

A chat w/Luke MacFarlane…

He had them at mango salsa.

When Luke MacFarlane’s endearing character of Scotty sat down to dinner for the first time with the Walker clan on “Brothers & Sisters,” it was a big outdoor party scene where Sally Field’s Nora had just humiliated her late husband’s mistress Holly (Patricia Wettig). The tension was incredibly high until Scotty piped up and asked, “Is this salsa mango?”

Scotty Wandell and Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) had instant chemistry from the minute the financially struggling waiter-turned-chef walked into his law office on a legal matter. He cut through Kevin’s veneer with quirky humor and charm and you knew he had Kevin’s heart when he bit into a red velvet cupcake and smiled at the end of one of their early episodes..

“My whole experience on the show started off as just a few episodes and it’s just become more and more and more and I’m so grateful for that,” Luke told me Monday night when we chatted before the start of the “A Conversation With Brothers & Sisters” event at the Television Academy in North Hollywood.

Luke, 28, was among the 12 cast members who participated as he was recently promoted from recurring character to full-fledged series regular: “They are making me a regular for season three. It’s very, very nice. We all know in television it’s hard to get a gig that lasts for a long time so when the agent calls up and says, ‘You’re guaranteed these number of episodes you feel very, very lucky.”

Luke, who studied drama at Julliard, was previously best-known for his role as Pvt. Frank “Dim” Dumphy in the series “Over There.” The Canadian actor had never given any interviews about his personal life until discussing his sexuality for the first time in an interview with the Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail, a few weeks ago in 2008. He decided to share that not only is he playing a gay man on TV, but he is a gay man in life.

“It’s been relatively simple for me,” he said of the increased spotlight. “I’ll say that I decided to do that interview, I decided to answer those questions in an effort to make my life simpler and that’s going to contunue to be my motto. So, I’ll have to say, it hasn’t been that hot a light on me at all.”

Even though through much of show’s first season the writers had Kevin struggling with commitment issues and go on to have relationships with a closeted soap actor (Jason Lewis) and a minister (Eric Winter), Scotty had been a fan favorite from his first scene and audiences wanted to see he and Kevin together.

Said Luke: “Well, I do know that the fans had a lot to do with Scotty staying around as long as he has so I’m grateful for them.”

I mention to him that now that Scotty is getting more airtime, the fans now want to get to know Luke himself a little better. He laughed a bit nervously and said, “In time.”

We look forward to it.

Thanks to Greg Hernandez of Out in Hollywood blog for his permission in using his article.

Direct Link :
http://www.insidesocal.com/outinhollywood/2008/04/a_chat_wluke_macfarlane.html

Out in Hollywood has an article on what transpired at the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences and focused more between what Matthew Rhys & Luke MacFarlane had to say at the event. Here’s the article (with permission):

Exclusive: Matthew Rhys and Luke MacFarlane on their TV nuptuals…

Don’t you just love all the drama of that “exclusive” headline? Well, I guess I’m feeling a little over-the-top after chatting-up both Kevin AND Scotty within moments of each other at a Television Academy event in North Hollywood last night. Oh wait! Kevin and Scotty are just TV characters - gay TV characters - played by actors Matthew Rhys and Luke MacFarlane.

I wanted to get their thoughts on this wonderful plot development that has Scotty and Kevin - an on-and-off-again couple since the beginning of the show - tying the knot in a commitment ceremony in the second season finale in a few weeks.

On the commitment ceremony:

Matthew: “It was great, perfectly put together. We didn’t get there easily, there wasn’t an easy road there up to the last few seconds, just like the turbulent path that we’ve had. There’s a lot of drama before getting there but then you know, it’s all resolved. And about time I think.”

Luke: “It means that the audience is ready because, you know, in television we make sure people are ready before we foist anything upon them by sort of testing it and stuff. It means that the world is ready and it also means that the characters in their lives are ready too. It’s a beautiful thing that’s happening but also a very appropriate thing.”

On working together:

Luke: Matthew’s a wonderful actor, he just oozes charm. From day one it’s always been super simple with him.

Matthew: “We do have (chemistry). It’s a real joy to work with him, a pleasure. As much as (Kevin and Scotty’s) drama came from their turbulence and the conflict in their relationship, being now in this (committed) relationship opens up a world of drama for them to play out. So, it’s all exciting times. What’s great is they really have picked two very diverse characters, the two of us compliment us very well as characters. Kevin can be a little bit uptight at times whereas Scotty, is a little bit too much of a free-spirit. So when the two meet, it makes for humorous times.”

On Kevin’s growth as a character:

Matthew: “It’s been great for over two seasons to have this arc, this sort of turbulent arc, and somewhere that he’s reached which is what you want. You don’t want to be ping-ponging back between old stories. So I’m glad the character’s evolving.”

On a lighter note, one of the pre-strike episodes had Kevin and Sarah (Rachel Griffiths) joining Scotty and his friends at a karaoke bar. Kevin, tired of being known as uptight, gets real drunk and begins singing to Scotty from the stage. Did Matthew have fun filming such a silly scene?

“It was fun. For me, as a Welshman, to desecrate a Tom Jones song like that, it was I found painful. And then to do the same to a Willie Nelson song, it was painful to be that bad! It came very naturally, of course. What I did was pretty unforgiveable.”

Thanks to Greg Hernandez of Out in Hollywood blog for his permission in using his article.

Direct Link :
http://www.insidesocal.com/outinhollywood/2008/04/out_in_hollywood_exclusive_mat.html

People Magazine, April, 28, 2008, edition, features a small blurb on Luke MacFarlane’s coming out story that he told to Globe and Mail on April 15, 2008.

Here’s the scan of that little blurb:

You can access the small blurb by clicking on the above picture that will take you into the gallery.

Thanks to our reader and a Luke fan, Ryan Murphy, who scanned the article in hi-res and sent it to my e-mail, I have included the hi-res scan of the article in the gallery section.