"Bros” writer, producer and star Billy Eichner, and stars Luke Macfarlane, Jim Rash, TS Madison and Miss Lawrence join CinemaBlend’s Corey Chichizola to dive deep behind the scenes of their new rom-com. Watch as they discuss making sure all of their favorite jokes made the cut, LGBTQ+ representation for younger generations, cameos and more!
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00:00 I've fallen in love with a lot of really talented,
00:03 beautiful, straight women.
00:04 (laughing)
00:06 Like Billie.
00:07 - I'm the Candace Cameron of bros.
00:09 - Oh my god, do you guys remember straight people?
00:11 - Yeah, they had a nice run.
00:13 (upbeat music)
00:15 - Billie, I saw you spoke about kind of expecting
00:24 more of a pushback from the studio,
00:26 just based on the context and the screenplay.
00:29 And I was wondering if there were any moments
00:31 or jokes or dialogue that specifically you were like,
00:34 ooh, I hope this makes it.
00:37 - A lot of it, all of it at the beginning, you know.
00:40 But I said to Nick, if I'm gonna do it,
00:42 and you want me to do it with you,
00:43 'cause he brought the idea to do a rom-com
00:45 about a gay couple to me,
00:46 I said it needs to be unapologetic.
00:48 Like it needs to be as sexy and explosive
00:51 as any Judd Apatow comedy,
00:53 or any Nick Stoller comedy for that matter.
00:55 Forgetting Sarah Marshall has that classic scene
00:57 that opens where Jason Segel is completely naked
00:59 and arguing with his girlfriend and falling apart.
01:01 And that's funny and it's shocking and it's provocative
01:05 and it's sweet, it's all of those things, you know.
01:07 - And it feels very real.
01:08 - It feels very real, and that's why it's funny.
01:11 And I said, I don't wanna hold back,
01:12 it has to be unapologetic, we have to go, pardon the pun,
01:16 like balls to the wall with this,
01:18 literally and figuratively.
01:20 And that was always a priority for me.
01:22 And luckily, Universal, probably because Judd and Nick
01:26 have had so much success taking kind of outside the box
01:30 comedians like me and building movies around them,
01:32 I think Universal felt a lot of confidence.
01:34 And I think Universal also saw that the culture now
01:37 has evolved to a place where people want these stories.
01:41 To get people to the movie theater,
01:42 you need to give them something new and fresh.
01:44 It can't be just a comedy, it has to be an event,
01:47 and "Bros" is that.
01:48 - I don't want any Hollywood bullshit.
01:50 - Well, I mean, it's so much happened on set.
01:56 - Yeah, I mean, they got a lot, a lot, a lot of footage.
02:00 And we know that there is a reason
02:03 for a cutting room floor, right?
02:05 Otherwise you have a five hour long movie.
02:07 But I feel like the final cut
02:14 has a really good balance of everything.
02:16 Yes, there were a lot of super hilarious moments
02:19 that didn't make it,
02:22 but I feel like everything serves its purpose.
02:26 - Yes.
02:27 - Yeah, I mean, the cut I thought was good.
02:28 - It was good, it was good.
02:31 But there's so much that didn't make it
02:35 that we thought was very funny.
02:37 I mean, we left set and went back to our trailers and laughed.
02:40 We came back off a break and sat back down in our chairs
02:42 to do retakes of some stuff.
02:44 And we laughed and laughed and repeated some of the stuff
02:47 because we were like, "This going in here."
02:49 This has to go in here 'cause this is so freaking funny.
02:53 But I do believe that the final cut of the movie
02:57 did its justice to what we did.
03:00 - I think so.
03:01 - There's plenty that was so funny.
03:03 And then obviously, you have to cut some stuff
03:06 along the way.
03:07 I mean, I particularly, we all,
03:09 and I can't remember when they came in
03:13 to announce that Deborah Messing had shown up.
03:15 We knew we were all gonna gasp, you know, collectively.
03:20 But then everyone was improvising their reaction
03:22 to Deborah Messing.
03:24 I think T.S. Madison quite literally said,
03:26 "Who's Deborah Messing?"
03:27 Which I think Luke's character says actually in the movie.
03:31 But I remember saying, "She's my hall pass."
03:36 You know, and Dot had a funny one, I can't remember.
03:38 All those aren't in there, but I thoroughly enjoyed
03:40 that we all had a very personal reaction to Deborah Messing.
03:43 - Yeah, I mean, just to move on from that,
03:45 I'd love to talk more about that sequence.
03:47 That cameo is so hilariously bonkers.
03:50 - The best, yeah.
03:51 - I love that she was very happy to make fun of herself.
03:54 Can you speak to what that experience was like filming?
03:57 - Well, I can't speak for Deborah.
03:59 I cannot get in her body.
04:00 And as much as I would want to try to understand her,
04:03 but I imagine that was gloriously fun for her.
04:06 I don't know her well enough to answer,
04:09 other than the fact that she was hilarious
04:11 and the idea of taking what I'm sure is her experience
04:14 sometimes to be some kind of a godmother
04:16 for, you know, or a therapist.
04:20 So, that was shot at the same place where we were shooting,
04:24 so I did watch from the monitors
04:25 and they were just take after take of just perfect.
04:29 (audience cheering)
04:31 - I mean, I can't imagine how many young people
04:32 are gonna go to the movies and finally kind of see--
04:35 - I mean, that's so cool.
04:36 Like, as you said that, I just pictured it in my mind
04:39 and I got chills, you know?
04:41 Like, that's really unbelievable.
04:43 I mean, it's crazy it took so long,
04:45 but I'm so glad that we did it
04:47 in what I hope is the right way.
04:49 - I remember my older sister going to see "Dirty Dancing"
04:51 and then, like, the family discussion that happened after,
04:54 because that movie was so provocative for its time.
04:57 "Dirty Dancing."
04:58 I hope the exact same thing happens for "Bros."
05:00 - I saw it twice in the movie theater.
05:02 (laughing)
05:03 - T.S., I was so excited to see you in this cast.
05:06 I was so, I loved seeing you in "Zola" earlier.
05:08 - Thank you. - I loved seeing you
05:09 on the big screen.
05:10 Can you speak to kind of creating this character
05:13 who has all of this, you know, power to her?
05:16 - Well, usually when trans women are cast in movies
05:19 and film and television and stuff like that,
05:21 we're cast to be, you know, prostitutes.
05:24 We were murdered.
05:26 Somebody's trying to find out, you know?
05:29 And I appreciate that, because it does tell the story
05:33 that is really going on in our community.
05:36 However, I do like to see us played in a different light,
05:39 like a board director, some woman with power,
05:42 you know, making decisions in the world,
05:44 because, you know, that exists as well.
05:47 And so when I got the role,
05:49 'cause I read for everybody's part, I did.
05:52 And then when I got the part of Angela,
05:55 I was like, "Okay, well, you know,
05:56 she's a woman that knows what she wants,
06:00 and, you know, she's a boss here in the room,
06:02 you know, and her and Wanda have their little something.
06:04 I don't know what it is that her and Wanda have.
06:06 I think they did a bad line together, so."
06:08 (laughing)
06:09 But it was, I was really excited
06:12 to be a part of the movie,
06:13 especially being T.S. Madison, honey,
06:15 and all that it encompasses with T.S. Madison.
06:17 - Hello, is it on?
06:18 How many times has someone said that?
06:19 - Well, they all be that.
06:21 (laughing)
06:22 - Is this bitch recording?
06:24 - Right, precisely.
06:25 - If we don't do this,
06:26 we're letting the heterosexual terrorists win.
06:28 - There are trans terrorists too.
06:30 Caitlyn Jenner.
06:31 - Luke, if I can pivot to you.
06:33 CinemaBlend, our audience,
06:35 we're big on the Hallmark Cinematic Universe,
06:37 of which your fans are legion.
06:40 I was wondering what you were hoping
06:42 that your fans from those projects
06:44 will get out of seeing "Bros."
06:46 - Yeah.
06:47 - And if, I guess, it's any of interest
06:49 to go back and tell a queer story under that umbrella.
06:53 - Yeah, for sure.
06:54 I think that they're gonna get it.
06:57 I think people are drawn to the Hallmark movies
06:59 because there is a sort of desert of love stories
07:02 right now in major, you know, thing.
07:04 And people go to Hallmark
07:05 'cause I think they love watching people fall in love.
07:07 And I've fallen in love with a lot of really talented,
07:11 beautiful, straight women.
07:12 Like Billy.
07:15 - I'm the Candace Cameron of "Bros."
07:17 - So I think that they will take a lot from it.
07:19 I think one of the things
07:20 that straight audiences are gonna take from it,
07:22 and I know a lot of queer people watch Hallmark as well,
07:24 but it's a bit of a peek behind the curtain
07:26 at what it's like for two men to date
07:28 in New York City in 2022.
07:30 So I think anybody that's curious
07:32 about anybody else's lives,
07:33 which is frankly why we go to movies,
07:35 to learn about other people's lives,
07:36 I think they'll absolutely take something from it.
07:38 - Gay guys are my jam.
07:39 - Awesome.
07:40 - Billy, I was very taken by the fact
07:43 that obviously there's this great love story
07:45 that's being told,
07:46 but also the movie's very much kind of taking the piss
07:49 out of queer people
07:50 and showing the very unsexy parts of trying to date.
07:54 I was wondering if you could speak
07:56 to the importance of that
07:57 and bringing like the Grindr deadpan messages to life.
08:00 I thought it was a hilarious choice.
08:01 - Yeah, I mean, you know,
08:03 I made the movie with Judd Apatow and Nick Stoller.
08:05 They happened to be straight.
08:06 I happened to be gay.
08:08 But one thing that bonds us all is that those guys
08:10 have made some of the funniest movies of the past 20 years,
08:12 Bridesmaids and 40 Year Old Virgin,
08:14 Forgetting Sarah Marshall,
08:15 and the list goes on and on.
08:17 Knocked up, Trainwreck.
08:18 So what bonds us is that we love a great comedy.
08:21 Our goal was to make it as laugh out loud funny
08:24 from start to finish as possible.
08:26 We don't get a lot of comedies like that anymore.
08:29 I love going to the movie theater
08:30 and sitting with hundreds of people and laughing.
08:33 It feels like a concert.
08:34 It feels fun.
08:35 It's uplifting.
08:36 It's comforting.
08:36 It's just fun.
08:37 It's like going on a ride
08:38 and we don't get that experience anymore.
08:41 And then beyond making it funny,
08:42 I really wanted it to be honest.
08:44 You know, I think we have seen more LGBTQ characters
08:47 in the past few years popping up in different shows
08:50 and things, but sometimes I feel that we're drawn
08:52 in a very one dimensional way,
08:54 or the creators are walking on eggshells
08:56 around what gay life really is.
08:59 And I didn't wanna do that.
09:00 The first thing I said to Nick Stoller,
09:01 who I wrote it with and who directed it
09:03 and who did a wonderful job is,
09:05 you know, I don't wanna do "When Harry Met Sally,"
09:07 but we're thrown into gay guys instead.
09:09 Like, that's not how the story would go with two men.
09:13 Not in 2022, certainly.
09:15 I don't even think those old rules apply
09:16 to young straight couples anymore.
09:18 And so I wanted it to be honest and authentic.
09:21 I wanted it to be sexy and romantic and awkward
09:25 and silly and funny, and just show these two men
09:28 falling in love in a very charming,
09:30 relatable, but honest way.
09:32 - Gay sex was more fun when straight people
09:34 were uncomfortable with it.
09:35 - Billy was great.
09:37 - Billy was amazing.
09:38 Billy gave us room and space to be creative,
09:44 you know, to tell the story of our characters
09:49 the way that we saw it.
09:51 And so he was an incredible collaborator
09:54 as well as director.
09:55 And I think that is why Nick Stoller and Billy,
10:00 I think that's what makes them so genius in this project,
10:03 is that they understood that because we are made,
10:07 this cast is made up and is a representation
10:10 of so many of the letters of the LGBTQ community,
10:14 it's kind of impossible to only have one point of view
10:17 by a director.
10:18 And the fact that they collaborated and offered
10:21 and gave us space for our input,
10:24 I think that's where a lot of the magic
10:27 comes from in this movie.
10:28 - He is, well, I would say two things.
10:31 One is very collaborative in the sense that
10:34 I think he wanted all these characters
10:37 to be fleshed out even more so from everyone's take
10:40 on their own personal.
10:41 We always shot what he and Nick had on the page
10:43 'cause it was great and gold.
10:46 But I think the spirit of him was also within himself
10:49 'cause we would be sitting at that table
10:51 and then it would cut and I would watch Billy,
10:54 you know, take the actor hat off and put on the,
10:56 you know, the writer, producer, everything.
11:00 And he often was, like he was making sure
11:02 that we're hitting all the right notes,
11:04 not just with the comedy,
11:05 but with the messages here and there
11:07 and that we were making fun of ourselves,
11:10 but we loved ourselves and that's a fine line to find,
11:15 you know? - Yeah.
11:15 - So that no one watching this movie is feeling judged,
11:17 they're just being able to laugh at themselves.
11:20 But we are having fun.
11:23 - This happens to be bisexual awareness week
11:26 and no one has acknowledged it.
11:29 - I was very taken with this kind of Greek chorus
11:32 that y'all had in this, you know, board meeting environment.
11:37 Can you speak to kind of the dynamic of filming
11:40 those scenes and the chemistry the group of you had?
11:43 - Yeah, I mean, it was fun.
11:45 It was naturally fun too.
11:47 It wasn't forced at all.
11:48 I think all of us knew that we had a job to do
11:52 and that was to make sure
11:54 that we get our point of view across
11:56 because we are talking about sharing our history
11:59 as LGBTQIA people to the world.
12:03 And that was the heart and soul
12:06 and the root of that boardroom.
12:09 And when you have a group of unapologetic LGBTQ people,
12:14 you're gonna get nothing but laughter anyway, right?
12:17 And we all mean business.
12:19 I think that's kind of the fabric of who we are
12:23 as LGBTQ people in real life is that we mean business
12:27 and we demand respect and we demand to be heard.
12:31 And when you bring all of those strong personalities
12:34 and those strong points of views together at a board table,
12:39 you get magic and that's what you get in "Bros."
12:41 - Yes.
12:41 - Lesbian history month was in March.
12:44 Nobody said a goddamn thing.
12:46 - Of course lesbians get a month and we get a week.
12:50 - A lot of tension.
12:51 No, I'm just kidding.
12:52 (laughing)
12:53 It was, I've said that, well, you sit in a circle.
12:58 And so we obviously as a board, we're sitting in a circle
13:00 and that means for a pretty long day of shooting
13:02 because you have a lot of coverage.
13:04 You're gonna go all the way around that table
13:05 and say these things many times
13:06 and there's some improv and everything involved.
13:08 So the dynamic was, you can't get a better dynamic
13:12 than spending three days together in the same room.
13:15 So you get to know people very well.
13:18 - Yeah, I mean, how was just kind of the energy
13:20 of the scenes and the way you guys
13:23 are interrupting each other?
13:24 I'm sure there were bits happening.
13:26 - Oh, plenty.
13:27 Well, Billy would, I remember when we first started shooting
13:31 Billy said, "Let's just ramp up
13:33 "and be pretty much in the heat of yelling at each other."
13:36 And then eventually, 'cause he sort of had the first line,
13:39 he would overtake the whole thing and get the scene started.
13:41 So we always had energy going into it,
13:44 which is just kind of fun
13:45 because you can say whatever you want,
13:47 which they may or may not use.
13:48 But yeah, and it was a very collaborative feel.
13:51 We would just totally shoot what was on the page
13:53 and then we would improvise
13:54 or Billy would come up with something on the fly,
13:57 throw it in there.
13:58 So by the end you had, I'm sure they have some,
14:01 I mean, there's so much stuff on the floor
14:02 that will find its life somewhere else.
14:05 - Happy pride.
14:06 - Happy pride.
14:07 - Now I have to go to a pride party
14:08 and you're both too old to be in the pool.
14:11 Please leave.
14:12 (upbeat music)
14:14 (upbeat music)
14:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]