'Bros' - Cast Interviews
"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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00:00I'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.