Saturday, October 15, 2011

A request to Hollywood: Please stop killing Matt Bomer

Warning: This post contains spoilers about deaths in movies and television.

Dear Hollywood and Other Entertainment Industries,

In July, Pajiba put together a death reel for Sean Bean's characters, proving they die quite often. There's another actor who seems to suffer from this syndrome. His death count can't compete with Sean Bean's, but it's too high for my taste. This fellow frequent death sufferer is Matt Bomer.
(Fun fact: Matt Bomer and Sean Bean both appear in Flightplan, but neither actually die in the movie.)

This realization came from my watching the trailer for the upcoming movie In Time. I was excited to see Matt Bomer included in the cast, but just over a minute into the trailer, he dies. Seriously? This was a disappointment but, sadly, one with which I'm familiar.

I first saw Matt Bomer, then credited as Matthew Bomer, in the wonderfully cheesy Tru Calling, a show in which the dead are often saved from death. His character Luc (yes, these spellings are correct) was an absolutely adorable romantic interest. When it first aired, I watched Tru Calling from time to time, but I never managed to see the first season finale. The promo toted that someone would die without coming back, but it wasn't until years later, upon receiving the DVD set, that I realized who this unfortunate character was. Any guesses? That's right; it was Matt Bomer's Luc. The series only ran for another six episodes, but those were six episodes in which he was sorely missed.

As I often do with attractive actors (don't judge me), I looked up Matt Bomer's IMDB page to find out what else he was in. I decided upon watching Chuck. I'd heard some positive buzz about the show, so it seemed like a good choice. All was going well until his character died in the opening scene. Again, I repeat, seriously? I couldn't even get a full episode's worth of Matt Bomer. I think he had some flashbacks throughout the course of Chuck, but that just wasn't enough. Despite my disappointment, I tried watching Chuck for several episodes, but I just couldn't get into it. Maybe it just wasn't my kind of show, but perhaps my disappointment clouded my judgment of the show.

Now, I haven't seen more than five minutes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, but according to its Wikipedia page, Matt Bomer dies in that as well. I don't watch Guiding Light, but Soap Central reveals that his character commits suicide. I can't vouch for any of the other works that he's appeared in, but even if those are his only character deaths, that's still 5 out of 13 characters of his that have died. Not cool, Hollywood. Not cool.

I guess I should make a small admission of truth here. Matt Bomer's biggest role is that of Neal Caffrey on White Collar. As this is a USA show and he is one of the main characters, I doubt he'll fall victim to Hollywood's scythe in this role. However, I never got into into White Collar. I loved the pilot, but the next few episodes lost me, and I didn't keep up with the show.

Even so, please stop the madness. I have to ask you, Hollywood: Could you please stop killing Matt Bomer's characters? I'd be ever so grateful.

Signed,
A Matt Bomer fan