Brotherly Love: Seven Truly Rakish Bromances

Paul Newman and Robert Redford are the OGs when it comes to… well, most things, but specifically the concept of the bromance, a noun used to describe a close but non-sexual relationship between two males. Redford owed much of his career to Newman after Paul fought to get him a part in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – the 1969 Western adventure – the film that cemented their friendship in the public eye and made the pair closer than ever. With Paul Newman doing many of his own bicycle stunts – because the assigned stuntman couldn’t – his reported anger at Redford for doing the same thing says it all about the pair’s affectionate bravado and competition and mutual sense of protection towards each other; “I don’t want any heroics around here,” he told Redford, “I don’t want to lose a co-star.” The blue eyed pair’s inevitable wild streak was made evident again when later filming The Sting, during which they bought matching silver Porsches to race each other up the Pacific Coast Highway in between takes – well, boys will be boys.

Sean Connery’s notoriously dry sense of humour and ability to get away with things that would have lesser beings accused of seediness was just the start. According to his old pal Michael Caine, Connery used to host regular parties called ‘Bring a Bottle and a Bird’ – to which Caine claimed “I couldn’t afford a bottle then, so I took two birds!” (We’re sure no one minded if Caine’s taste in women is anything to go by; he dated several models throughout his career). The pair first worked together on The Man Who Would Be King – the roles for which John Huston had originally planned to be played by American actors such as Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable, who both died before filming could commence, or Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Newman advised Huston that the characters would be better suited to British actors, personally recommending Caine and Connery, resulting in one of the best duos in adventure movie history. As if Newman hadn’t given us enough…

Redford and Newman weren’t the only two who bonded over a mutual love of cars fast enough to whip their trademark Stetsons off their very heads. James Coburn once told an interviewer in 1988 he and McQueen’s diametrically opposed personalities melted away when they were together; “We hung out together quite a bit, would drive cars, smoke grass, have a great time. He was a unique character”, proceeding to tell the story of how when McQueen was given a car whilst filming, he wrecked it within two weeks from his wild abandon and tendency to go ‘off-road’. Ever the epitome of cool, Coburn’s calm and laidback approach countered McQueen’s propensity to wind up directors and make outrageous demands on set – it was Coburn, along with James Garner, who talked McQueen into returning to film The Great Escape when Steve decided he didn’t have as big a role as he’d have liked. The film turned out to be a turning point for McQueen, and after staring in The Magnificent Seven together in 1960, the pair supported each other through the emotional role of being pallbearers at friend and colleague Bruce Lee’s funeral.

“Besides us being friends through the years, I recognised Tom as an incredibly unique talent. He’s a force of nature”, Leo says on the subject of requesting Tom Hardy as a co-star, having worked together on Inception. Force of nature maybe, but nature itself is what brought the two together in the most brutal film in cinema history, The Revenant; the pair admitted there was nothing else to do after shooting in the harsh conditions but get warm and eat “a lot of food” night after night – a bonding experience if ever there was one. In such a physically demanding situation, with a plotline darker than we’ve seen on screen in a while, the boys were credited with lightening the mood in their own unique way, with DiCaprio singing endless show tunes – and knowing every lyric – whilst Hardy was partial to suggesting a friendly hug – “When things get a bit too serious, I go ‘Why don’t we have a cuddle in front of all these people here?’ It ends with both of us falling down in the snow.” How sweet.

This chiselled, all American duo were born and bred in Boston and have been friends since childhood, writing Good Will Hunting at university, finishing the screenplay together and selling the script for $675,000. Matt Damon is famously quoted as speaking out against the bad reputation Affleck temporarily accrued after a public scandal with his ex-fiancée Jennifer Lopez - his emotional investment in his friend is clear - "it was just really painful. It was painful to be his friend, because it wasn't fair, you know? To my mind, nobody really got him at all." Later he described how their relationship was more than just a friendship in the juvenile sense, explaining how “I think we fed on each other’s obsession during really formative, important years and that bonded us for life.” All you have to do is type their names into a search engine to realise the pair share more than a couple of (great) films; a sarcastic sense of humour, birthday cakes, awards and even a TV series are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this lifelong, press-proof friendship that puts Taylor Swift’s #squadgoals to shame.

They may be famous for being True Detectives, but McConaughey and Harrelson are often lauded for being true friends as well. Having worked together several times, usually on comedy, McConaughey has explained that “he hits the ball to me, I hit it back harder, he its back harder… we volley back and forth. That’s part of the beauty of us, and that’s part of the beauty of our friendship.” It was this friendship that in fact made the filming of True Detective all the more difficult – the pair were forced to take a step back; being so harmoniously in step with one another didn’t work for the intense, dark characters and complex relationship they were portraying in the series. This connection, extending past the professional and into the personal, was the push Harrelson needed to accept the part of Detective Hart – “I love Matthew McConaughey, he’s like a brother to me. I honestly wouldn’t have done it, except that Matthew was doing it”. With their southern drawls and expert delivery, their natural comic sparring is second to none, and will surely continue to keep us entertained for many a year to come.

Shaun Escoffery is quite literally an all-singing, all-dancing demonstration of raw British talent, and often tells the story of how he owes his musical career to his best friend since school, Idris Elba. The pair grew up in East London, and Elba followed his heart to drama school, his friend studying construction. On inviting Escoffery to informally sing with his group of friends – which Shaun described as “like the kids out of Fame” – Elba realised the untapped talent within his buddy and urged him to pursue it. Elba says “We’re cut from the same cloth and we knew all the same people”, which encouraged Escoffery to change his course for the better, kick-starting a successful career in theatre and music. As well as their commitments to the performing arts, the boys enjoyed martial arts and kickboxing, which often ended up in ‘tussles’ – something they agree they never grew out of. Elba has remained extraordinarily grounded despite worldwide recognition and Hollywood’s calling, but has always determined that his heart is in the UK and that his friends haven’t changed.