Yahoo Lifestyle The Boys’ Tomer Capone on Frenchie’s Sexuality, His ‘Inevitable’ Divide With Kimiko and Episode 5 Cliffhanger
Warning: The following contains spoilers for The Boys Season 4, Episode 5. Proceed at your own risk!
The Boys star Tomer Capone was “not surprised” to find his character Frenchie in a relationship with another man in Season 4, the actor tells TVLine.
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“More so, I was wondering, ‘When is that going to happen?'” says Capone, who likens Frenchie to “interesting and diverse artists” such as David Bowie and Iggy Pop who “don’t define themselves by their sexuality.”
At the same time that Frenchie has been exploring his feelings for Annie’s colleague Colin (played by Elliot Knight), Frenchie has also been struggling with the guilt of having killed Colin’s family years ago. In this week’s episode, those emotions became too much for him, and Frenchie turned himself into the police for committing multiple murders. And he did so without telling Kimiko, highlighting just how far apart the pair have grown this season. But perhaps there’s no reason to worry? Capone believes that time and space apart is “inevitable if you want to explore what the characters really want from each other,” he says.
Below, Capone talks about exploring Frenchie’s sexuality, his decision to go to the police, what the future holds for him and Kimiko, and much more.
TVLINE | Frenchie really starts off in a different place this season: He has a new love interest, there’s all this distance between him and Kimiko. What did you think of his arc when you first saw the scripts for Season 4 and how much things have changed for him?
I mean, you haven’t mentioned the dental care plan and paycheck on time after Season 3, with one of my favorite lines, “My cake hole will remain open.” He wants to be legit. He wants to feel like he has a decent job. No, I’m kidding. But when we kickstart this season, it is like a new chapter in the Boys’ life, working for the CIA, basically, and for the first time…[Frenchie is] not being chased. He’s not having to hide, he’s not having to be underground. I think for me, as an actor, something changed in his posture…and about being healthier. He’s not smoking. He’s taking Nicorette. He’s never been sober. We never saw Frenchie sober, actually, until we saw him in the beginning of this season. Obviously, the world of The Boys, everything happens really fast and not in a good way for our French friend, but for that couple of first episodes, it was so much fun to have that experience of playing healthy Frenchie.
TVLINE | There’s a lot of trauma that he’s dealing with this season and trying to repress, and same thing with Kimiko. They’re both really dealing with what happened in their pasts, and it’s driving this wedge between the two of them. Did it feel different filming the Frenchie and Kimiko scenes this season?
Yes, it did. First off, something new was that the two of them are actually communicating. Like, not a sentence here or sentence there. Actually having conversations, because time has passed, and Kimiko taught Frenchie how to sign. So that was a new challenge for me, and obviously, something new for the character and their relationship. I loved it. I won’t lie, me and Karen [Fukuhara] had our shared moments of, “Is this going to work? How are people going to react?” because the show is so loud. It works in a world that is so loud, and obviously, it’s packed with so much action, gore, horror and effects, and then you get some scenes where you get the two, basically, signing to each other, and there’s this quietness. I think we were very — I won’t say scared — maybe curious to see how the fans will react to those scenes. I’m happy that I’m getting so [many] beautiful emails or [messages] on social media. People are, like, rooting for these scenes and saying it’s even helping [them] digest the rest of the show, taking a breather, [to] see those two signing together. I think more than the obvious of signing to Deaf people, it’s a shoutout to these two individuals that are underdogs and didn’t have a voice in their life, their past. Obviously, it’s part of the trauma, and I find it another level of intimacy to their connection.
TVLINE | As much as they’re signing, there’s so much that they’re not saying to each other this season. They’re not really opening up to each other about what’s going on in their heads, and they used to be such an inseparable twosome, but they are spending more scenes apart than they are together this season.
I think it’s inevitable if you want to explore what the characters really want from each other. You have to kind of… It’s a quote, I think, from a song. How does it go? “I had to put you away to take you back to me,” or something like that. You have to let go sometimes in order to figure out some stuff, and you’re right. I mean, those two were a duo. They were this inevitable tag-team, and now they’re really getting a chance to explore themselves… It’s another layer for them to peel…in order to get closer to each other maybe. But again, we’re still exploring. I always feel weird answering those questions, because I’m actually curious myself to see. Obviously, I don’t want to give too much away [about] the next couple of episodes, but let’s just say I’m very pleased and happy with the way the writers elevated and joined those two towards whatever’s coming their way.
TVLINE | One of the things that has come into Frenchie’s life is Colin. When did you know that Frenchie was bisexual? Was that something you had discussed with Eric Kripke before this season?
The simple answer is no. …. Frenchie is everything and nothing and all together. Starting out, getting inspiration for the character, I went to figures like David Bowie. Ziggy Stardust is on the top of the list and French chansonnier, Serge Gainsbourg, and Iggy Pop, and man, so many interesting and diverse artists that don’t define themselves by their sexuality. Saying that, I do remember Season 3, for some reason, I cut all of Frenchie’s t-shirts into crop tops and went into set, surprising everyone on set, and when they asked me, “Well, you know, we can see your belly button. It’s a crop top,” my answer was, “Frenchie loves it.”
You know what? I think somewhere in Season 2, toward Season 3, Frenchie took over, and he’s the one who decides. Not me and not Eric Kripke and not no one. It’s one of those things, when the character just molds into its own persona and identity from, I guess, a little bit from the writing, a little bit from my imagination and my inspirations for the character, specifically. And so, no, that answer is no, I was not surprised. More so, I was wondering, “When is that going to happen?” and I think we got a glimpse into it in Season 2, I believe, where Frenchie has his origin story with Cherie, and you can tell, [they have] a ménage à trois over there.
TVLINE | This is the first time we’ve seen a relationship sort of play out for him, outside from maybe the almost-relationship with Kimiko last season. What did you enjoy about the dynamic between Frenchie and Colin this season? And did it help you understand anything new about Frenchie as a character?
Yes, it did. You know, it’s funny, but it’s like in order for Frenchie to try to make amends and peace with his past, he has to go directly through everything he encountered in his past life. … Frenchie, basically, in his past life, he was an assassin. He’s a killer. He’s not what society calls the good guy. But then, smartly enough, the writers and Eric Kripke are showing not only Frenchie, but the rest of The Boys, where they are coming from, and what made them be who they are and maybe have a shift in their lives, and again, still trying to climb and find salvation. It’s about the climb for Frenchie. One step at a time. So Colin and that relationship was such a big break in Frenchie’s foundation that I’m curious to see where it goes from there.
TVLINE | Turning to this week’s episode, specifically, there’s this really great scene between Frenchie and Annie about forgiveness, and then at the end of the episode, he turns himself into the police. What is he hoping to get out of that?
I think, basically, Frenchie wants someone to tell him that he deserves to be punished. I feel like he feels like he dodged bullets in his life. … The most dramatic event that happened to Frenchie [was] with Mallory’s grandchildren, [which] we kind of visited with Lamplighter in Season 1 [and] Season 2. But I think everything kind of piles up after Colin, and everything that happened in Frenchie’s past, everything bubbles into, basically, a volcano, and at that point, it’s, how can I say it gently? It’s either he turns himself in, or he’s going to commit suicide. So, in a way, he’s trying to look for salvation, to look for help, to look for someone to guard him while he’s having his… How do you say it in English? Like, remorse?
TVLINE | During that scene with Annie, I was trying to remember if they ever had any one-on-one, meaningful conversation like that before, and I couldn’t recall.
It’s funny, it’s one of those things where we, the actors, behind the scenes, we established this relationship that, unfortunately, we can’t put everything in front of the camera. First of all, I love Erin Moriarty. I think she’s amazing, and we’re rooting for each other all the time. When she got her story with coming in to be one of the Boys, me, as Tomer, and me, as Frenchie, were so happy about it that we’re going to spend some time together. So it’s inevitable that, now that she’s one of the Boys, we’re going to get some one-on-one scenes. Man, the only complaint I have is that I don’t have enough scenes with the rest of the cast. Everyone is so talented, and sometimes, it feels like she was part of a different show, because, most of the time, the Boys and The Seven, we’re not together on set. We do dinners, and we see each other on the weekends and whenever we can, and we really, really just love each other, and we get along amazing, but it’s not a work relationship on set. Basically, I work with the Boys. I work with the characters Frenchie’s around. Man, it would be a dream, after working with Erin and Starlight, just to have a scene with Chase [Crawford] and Antony [Starr] and everyone.
TVLINE | Something Frenchie said to Annie really struck me, about how he was scared that Kimiko would hate him if he told her all of this stuff, and even more scared that she wouldn’t. Why do you think he feels that way?
Because at the end of the day, they are soulmates, they are twin flames. It’s a relationship that, I think, is the dearest to Frenchie. It’s a fine line between love and hating who you love and being scared [of] your pure love, and in a way, these two went such a long way together that, I think, at this point, they can only lose, and Frenchie is really afraid [of losing] Kimiko. He loves her. I think that there’s something so pure over there that once maybe a pin gets in the way, it can ruin the whole thing, and he’s afraid this tower could collapse.
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TVLINE | I really loved the scene when they’re being attacked by the farm animals, and Frenchie says, “I can’t believe this is happening to me again.”
[Laughs] That is one of the best things that I love on the show, where the dailies come, and they see some stuff, and then we shoot some stuff, and then, suddenly, you get a phone call, and it’s Eric Kripke on the line, and he has some ideas, and he wants to put some new lines for Frenchie that… I don’t know, man. He’s a genius. He writes this stuff, like, on the spot. Like, I got those lines, and we tried a couple of different jokes, which [were] very funny. I love that one that stays. “I can’t believe this happened to me again.” It took me, I think, like, five takes to shoot it because everybody was cracking up on set. It was so funny. And it’s one of those things when you go, like, “Oh, my God, look at where we are.” It’s such a big-scale TV show, and so much money and so much people around, but then Eric has an idea, and we’re not skipping it. We’re trying it, and lo and behold, it’s in the [show]. It’s amazing.
TVLINE | And Karen’s reaction shot to that line is just the perfect cherry on top to that moment.
Me and Karen, we have this hidden competition between who does the best expressions on the show, and I told her that this season, man, she’s bringing the competition.
TVLINE | What did you think of the bat mitzvah fight sequence in Episode 2?
[Laughs] I loved it. It was one of the most amazing sets we had this season. Every day on The Boys, it’s like a big amusement park, but this was a hell of a ride. Everything, as you see it, really happens. People think they duplicate it on VFX, but there were actual stunt doubles there, and they just did the special effects work afterwards. So we did have a lot of naked people on set, a lot of naked man genitalia on set. I just remember Laz Alonso, me teaching him how to speak Hebrew, [so] when we got into the bat mitzvah, for him to say, “Shalom, shalom. Mazel tov, mazel tov.” It was a good gag that we kind of slipped into [the scene], and I love that it stayed in the show. But yeah, man, it was so funny, and so much fun. And the menorah… I remember, I told him, “Go to the menorah. You have to go to the menorah,” because it was either a champagne bottle or a menorah or a couple of other props [to kill Splinter].
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