From clanking down the Yellow Brick Road to cooking in Yorkshire, guarding half-human, half-vampire hybrids, and flexing his guns in a robot revolution, Max Parker’s career so far has been delightfully… unpredictable.
“I think the reason I got into acting as a kid was because I had so much energy, and my parents just wanted to give me an outlet,” Max tells Gay Times. “What I wanted to be always changed: I wanted to be a vet, a doctor, a policeman. Being an actor, you get to do all those things, but only for a short while, and then move on to something else.”
Max’s latest — and most high-profile — role sees him in Netflix’s coming-of-age dramedy BOOTS, following a closeted teen (Miles Heizer) enlisting in the 1990s Marines with his straight best friend (Liam Oh), forging bonds and discovering themselves amid the harsh realities of military life. Overseeing their training is Max’s elite Recon Marine, Sgt. Sullivan, who pushes his recruits to the limit while carrying secrets of his own.
As the series hits Netflix, we caught up with Max Parker to talk about stepping into the role of Sgt. Sullivan, exploring the show’s high-stakes military world, and the heart, humour and humanity at the centre of BOOTS.
Max, congratulations on the release of BOOTS. How are you feeling, leading up to its release?
I’m very excited. We started filming about two and a bit years ago, so with all the strikes that have happened and the delay of the release, it feels like everything’s finally about to come out, and I just can’t wait for everyone to see what we’ve been working so hard on.
The Gay Times audience, especially, has been so receptive to the show and its trailer. Why do you think there’s been so much interest?
There’s nothing like it, to be honest. I think there have been military shows before that look at it from a different angle. This is sort of a fun, moving drama. It’s just got so much to it, and I think the trailer, not only does it have one of the best songs ever in it, which obviously makes it great, I just think it looks exciting. I mean, I’ve seen the show and I know it is exciting, but sometimes a trailer can’t do something justice or shows too much, and I think this one is getting people excited.
Let’s discuss your character, Sullivan. Max, I have to say, you are absolutely terrifying – at the start, anyway.
That’s the goal!
He’s such a complex character, an elite Recon Marine harbouring many secrets. What was your initial reaction to Sullivan when you read the script?
I sort of got drip-fed the script as my audition process went along. I did quite a lot of rounds for the show, and at first, thinking of myself as a drill instructor… I was a little nervous! Hollywood often shows drill instructors as a lot older, usually jacked dudes with greying hair, so I didn’t necessarily relate to some of that. I didn’t really see myself. As I kept doing the auditions, though, I got drip-fed more and more of what the show was about and did more research on drill instructors in the nineties. I started to see a lot of myself in the script and in the footage. By the last round, I was like, ‘If I don’t get this job, I think I’m just going to give up.’ I was desperate for it.
Looking at your career so far, no one can accuse you of not taking risks. So far, you’ve played a Yorkshireman in Emmerdale, a robot-fighting warrior in Doctor Who, a damphir guardian in Vampire Academy and now a marine…
I think the reason I got into acting as a kid was because I had so much energy, and my parents just wanted to give me an outlet. What I wanted to be always changed: I wanted to be a vet, I wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to be a policeman. Being an actor, you get to do all those things, but only for a short while, and then move on to something else. I just love the immersiveness of characters. Some scripts give you more opportunities than others, and I think this script in particular let me do and show so much. Sometimes a character, even if they’re fully 3D, doesn’t give you the chance to show all sides of them in the short amount of script you’re given.
Yeah, there’s a lot of layers to Sullivan. From the jump, he has a lot of anger and intensity within him. What was it like for you to channel that as an actor, while making sure that he was likeable and three-dimensional?
I think drilling as a discipline is purely for the benefit of the recruits. It’s meant to break them down, build them back up again, and teach them. Whereas with Sullivan, he’s got a past that he’s trying to escape from. He’s got so much going on that he can’t speak to anyone about, and all of his problems are sort of building up like a pressure cooker. It becomes his outlet to let out his anger. So sometimes it’s not just about teaching the recruits, sometimes it’s about him letting out his pent-up anger and feelings on them as a way of dealing with it.
Then it sort of hits home, I think, halfway through teaching these guys, that they mean a lot to him — just as it means a lot for him to escape. Especially with Cameron, I think he sees something in him at the start, and his goal is to try and get Cameron to quit. He doesn’t want him to go through what he’s been through… the dangers of it all. It’s not just that you might get found out; you will go to prison, you’ll lose everything you’ve worked for. He sees a fight in Cameron that he didn’t realise he could have, and he takes it upon himself to change his tactics, to keep him in there, teach him, and give him the tools to get through.
Sullivan shares a… life experience with Cameron. How do you think his past shapes how he reacts to the other recruits, especially Cameron?
Yeah, I think there was a lot of story that was potentially going to come out about Sullivan and his past. I think he knows that might happen in the future, but Sullivan, in my opinion, anyway, has always known from the start who he was and has always fought it. Everything about him is leading up to this moment where he could finally become proud of himself, until he almost gives it all away by giving in to who he is. The idea of him losing everything… his lover, his honour, his dignity, and his military career, which he’s so passionate about, is so terrifying to him that he doesn’t even want to see Cameron begin that same journey. He wants to stop his journey before it even starts, which is why, as you said, he’s so scary and horrible at the start.
The series is set in the 90s, when being gay in the military was illegal. How did you approach playing a character who’s forced to hide who they are in that kind of environment?
I’ve got to go back to the script. I think the script is absolutely incredible. Sometimes it’s not about, ‘How do I come across as moving in this scene?’ Sometimes I just couldn’t help it. The script really sets the scene of where you are and how much there is to lose. As a gay man myself, I know how it is to hurt and how it doesn’t feel great, but everything’s heightened in the nineties. Everyone around me loves and supports me. Everyone around Sullivan, even his best friend, is homophobic. Just thinking about that shows you how much pressure he’s under, which is why it’s almost easy, especially when you’ve got an outlet like drilling and shouting in people’s faces, to just release.
It was heartwarming, however, to see that not all of the characters in BOOTS are opposed to queerness, from Cameron’s best friend to Sullivan’s fellow sergeants. Seeing that allyship in this time period felt important.
Yeah, I think McKinnon is the drill instructor that we all know so well, especially through Hollywood: this hard-ass, straight-to-the-point drill instructor. He’s the kind of person Sullivan doesn’t really get along with at the start, because Sullivan’s way of teaching is maybe a bit unorthodox. There’s a really heartwarming moment during the show when you think he might find out that I may potentially be under investigation for being gay, and the way he says, “I don’t care what he does in his bedroom.” I remember watching that moment thinking, ‘Wow, that hit harder than it did when I read it in the script.’
With Fajardo, it’s all unspoken as well. It’s not like anyone knows for sure. It’s unspoken because that’s the way it was. But you can see the unspoken support from Fajardo, because they have a sort of kinship. She’s a woman, and it wasn’t common to have a female drill instructor, especially one in charge of the men. So they have something in common, and she sees that he needs help.
Sullivan’s exterior begins to crack when his relationship with Wilkinson is investigated. Do you see that as the point where his façade finally falls apart, or where he starts to reclaim his own agency?
I think the moment when he starts to reclaim his power is when I think he sees something in Cameron that gives him the drive to sort of…. They have this beautiful scene in the dumpster where he’s teaching him, ‘If you want to stay in the Marines, then I’ll help you, but you have to earn it and you have to work hard.’ And I feel like it’s crushing when the investigation does catch up to him when he is sort of on the right path. Then you just see him run from things in a way that only he can, which is through alcohol, through fighting, through being alone, shutting himself off from everyone.
Side note, I found it quite refreshing that there was no romantic connection between Cameron and Sullivan. Instead, Sullivan somewhat plays a mentor role, which we don’t see much of in queer media, especially two young gay men.
I know what you mean. I think when we were first reading the scripts, I thought, ‘Oh, is it going to go that way?’ But it’s refreshing that it didn’t. I think the whole point, and especially why people were scared of gays in the Marines, is that they were afraid they’d get ‘sucked in,’ or all those dark stereotypes about what gay men are. If it had gone that way, maybe it would’ve played into that stereotype of ‘all gays get with gays,’ you know what I mean? Because it’s based on Greg Cope White’s book, and Sullivan only has a small part in it, they just elaborated on that character. They found something really interesting there. Greg still talks to me and tells me how much of a hard-ass this dude was, but also how much he changed his life by being a mentor. So I think it was important to keep that.
You had Greg on set, right?
Yeah, there were moments on set where it would be a moving scene and a beautiful day, but you’d come off set and see Greg crying because it brought him straight back to when he was in the Marines. It was great having him on set because he had so much insight into all the characters.
That must’ve been quite surreal?
And [Greg’s best friend] Dale was on set a lot as well. Liam Oh plays Ray, who is based on Dale.
Wow, what did you learn from them and their experiences?
I learned that the bond in the military must be so strong. After all these years, they’re still best friends. It’s beautiful to see the friendship that formed then, when it was so taboo, because they didn’t actually go through the military in the nineties; it was earlier than that. The timeline has been moved forward for the show, but seeing someone like Dale be so accepting, even back then, is really beautiful.
There’s a lot of heart in this show. When the first look images came out, I didn’t think it would be a mish-mash of so many genres, from comedy and drama to thriller…
I would describe it as a coming-of-age story — a nostalgic coming-of-age story that doesn’t really have a genre, which is why it’ll be so interesting to see how people receive it. If you’re flicking through, you might not necessarily know what genre it is. I think the trailer does a good job of showing it off in a good light, and I know all my friends and family are stoked to see it.
BOOTS ends with Sullivan taking dramatic actions, defying orders to search for Jones and then making a sudden departure. What do you think is going through his mind in that moment?
I think it’s all caught up to him, and even when he’s trying to do things right, he’s got it very wrong. He realises the whole reason for this car crash of a situation is solely down to him, and it becomes his opportunity to take things into his own hands and decide what he’s going to do. His main goal, his main focus towards the end, is to make sure that Miles makes it, that Cameron makes it, and he finally sees something in him that tells him he’s going to be fine on his own, he’s going to do it. And that gives him the courage to deal with things, I think.
I would love a second season, but with that ending, I’m not sure what that would look like? Hypothetically, if it were to happen, where would Sullivan be? Has he gone back to Wilkinson?
I don’t know. I’ve had conversations with the showrunner, and he’s very secretive, and everyone’s excited to see if there’s a season two. I’m just excited for what’s happened to me anyway, moving forward. This is my first job in America — well, breakthrough, I think, in America. Before this, I guess nobody really knew who I was, so I’m quite excited to see what happens after it comes out.
Also, sorry I’m going on a tangent now, I need to find out what happened to Wilkinson? At the wedding, I was confused to discover that he was some kind of apparition, a hallucination of sorts, for Sullivan?
One of those scenes was actually one of the audition scenes I had — the scene with Wilkinson in the bar. I remember finding that scene quite moving. We had a great director for that episode, Tanya, and she really got a lot out of everyone, though we probably ended up using the most tame takes. Still, it was a moving scene — seeing him singing at a straight person’s wedding, his best friend’s wedding, knowing that his best friend would hate him if he came out, and seeing all these happy straight couples. I think that’s why he has this vision of Wilkinson. He’s desperate to go to the wedding with his partner, but he’s thrown his partner under the bus. It’s his conscience playing on him, because he’s obviously missing him and also feeling very guilty.
On a final note, what do you hope LGBTQIA+ viewers take away from this story, its themes and Sullivan’s arc?
I really hope that LGBTQIA+ viewers enjoy it. I also really hope it does something for straight viewers — that they see how difficult it can be for LGBTQIA+ people, and how the world needs different “spices” of life and diversity, and how we’re not so different, and how the time back then isn’t so different from now. But most of all, I hope people really enjoy it.
BOOTS is out now.
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