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