Billy Eichner to write, produce and star in first gay rom-com produced by major Hollywood studio
Billy Eichner attends the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on 9 February, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Getty for Vanity Fair/ Rich Fury/ VF20)
Actor Billy Eichner is set to co-produce, co-write and star in the first gay romantic comedy to be produced by a major Hollywood studio.
The Parks and Recreation star announced on Twitter that the Universal film, titled Bros, will be released be released next year.
He wrote: “In shocking news, Bros will be the first rom-com about gay men ever produced by a major studio and, apparently, I’m the first openly gay man to ever write and star in their own studio film.
“Only took 100 years! THANKS HOLLYWOOD!!!”
Also, fuck my manager in 2006 who told me to be less gay because a big agent was coming to my show. FUCKKKKKKK YOUUUUUUU!!!Ok I’ll shut up now.
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) March 5, 2021
Eichner later added: “Also, f**k my manager in 2006 who told me to be less gay because a big agent was coming to my show.
“F********K YOUUUUUUU!!! OK, I’ll shut up now.”
According to The List, the actor will play one half of the gay couple at the centre of the film, which will be directed by Nicholas Stoller.
Stoller and Eichner will also write the screenplay together, and produce the movie alongside Judd Apatow and Joshua Church.
Billy Eichner wants Bros to star “as many openly LGBT+ actors as possible”.
In 2019, when the film was first announced, Billy Eichner said he wanted to cast “as many openly LGBT+ actors as possible”.
He told People magazine: “I look forward to making that movie and finding as many openly LGBT+ actors as possible in gay roles, in straight roles.
“We not only need to start supporting LGBT+ actors theoretically, but we actually need to start casting them as well.
“In a perfect world, gay actors can play gay roles and gay actors can play straight roles, and straight actors can play straight roles and play gay roles, and we’re all mixing and matching because part of the fun and the challenge of being an actor or an actress is to play someone who you’re not. We can do it all.”
He said that while straight actors are often cast in LGBT+ roles, it “rarely” happens in reverse.
Eichner added: “I think people really love the spectacle of a straight actor ‘playing gay’.
“You so, so rarely see it work in the reverse. It’s such an uneven ratio right now, and that is what I’m determined to fix.”
Bros will hit theatres on 12 August, 2022.
