Forget baby girls, here are the Tortured Man Club boys we love

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Gay actor Andrew Scott once started a group chat with two of his fellow actors who have a connection to Taylor Swift’s new album, and we can’t get over the name!

Some people believe that Scott is partially responsible for Swift naming her newest album The Tortured Poets Department because he once created a group chat with fellow actors Paul Mescal and Joe Alwyn (who was dating Swift at the time) called the “Tortured Man Club,” Variety reports.

Back in 2022, Scott and Alwyn discussed the creation of the “club” during a Variety Actors on Actors conversation where Scott said that he had played a “tortured” character in the past and he knew Alwyn and Mescal were about to jump into really challenging roles. “So they were about to play these tortured characters, and I had played a tortured character in Fleabag. It wasn’t about our own characteristics!” He said before explaining that the group chat was short-lived. “I think there were three texts, like, ‘Hey, guys.’ You know those groups that you set up, and they just collapse.”

It’s a pity the “Tortured Man Club” petered out, but we think adding new members could reinvigorate it, so here are our nominations for membership in this exclusive actors club!

Andrew Scott

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It makes sense that Andrew Scott would be the one to start this group chat/club, considering how many "tortured men" he's played over the years. From the hot priest in Fleabag to Adam in the achingly beautiful All of Us Strangers to Tom Ripley in the Netflix series Ripley, Scott has proven he's a master at playing these dynamic and tortured men.

Paul Mescal

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Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal starred opposite each other in 2023's beautifully heartbreaking queer film All of Us Strangers, where they both played characters tortured by different life circumstances. The film will shatter your heart and make you cry, but it is so beautiful and touching you won't even mind once it's over.

Joe Alwyn

Andrew Scott hand-picked Joe Alwyn to join the group chat because the two had starred together in Catherine Called Birdie, and he knew he was going on to play tough roles in the future, including Conversations with Friends.

Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal should be the poster child for the "Tortured Man Club" after rocketing to fame playing a gay cowboy in the heartbreaking classic Brokeback Mountain. We may have seen it half a dozen times, but we still cry every time we watch it!

Zachary Quinto

Zachary Quinto has had a long career, starring in everything from Heroes to Hannibal to the Star Trek movies. But his role in last year's black comedy Down Low really shows off his acting chops, playing a man who newly discovers he's gay and has to try to navigate the dating scene while also trying to hide a body — talk about tortured!

Jacob Elordi

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Jacob Elordi's role as Nate on Euphoria could qualify him for the club or even his star turn in Saltburn; he also plays a serial killer on the run in He Went That Way. While it's not explicitly queer either, the heat and tension between his character and Zachary Quinto speaks for itself.

Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey has played a lot of intense characters over the years. But it's his role in last year's hit Showtime miniseries Fellow Travelers that lands him in the club. In it, Bailey plays a closeted character who goes through the ups and downs of being in love with another man, from the terror of the Lavender Scare in the 1950s to the horrors of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the ’80s.

Timothée Chalamet

Timothée Chalamet played 17-year-old Elio in the heartbreaking gay love story Call Me By Your Name. The sad ending alone earns him his spot. There are plenty of fun and sexy moments in the film (the peach scene speaks for itself), but Chalamet will also leave you in tears.

Billy Porter

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Billy Porter could probably score a spot in the "Tortured Man Club" for his role as an HIV-positive fashion designer and Ballroom emcee in Pose. But his recent role as a gay father fighting for custody of his son in Our Son cements his place in the club.

Colin Firth

While straight audiences might know Colin Firth best for playing Mr. Darcy or for playing a love-sick writer in Love Actually, his role as George Falconer in A Single Man lands him on this list. In the gay drama, Firth plays a man who plans to end his own life after his partner dies in a car crash eight months prior.