Billy Eichner says Bros was ‘always going to be an uphill climb’ with audiences

The co-writer and star of the gay rom-com Bros, Billy Eichner, has said that the film was “always going to be an uphill climb,” when it came to mainstream audiences.

Bros is the first gay rom-com to be produced by a major Hollywood studio (Universal) and features a predominantly LGBTQ cast including in straight roles.

Billy, who co-wrote the film along with director Nicholas Stoller and stars as lead character Bobby Lieber, was speaking to Attitude at the premiere of the film in London on Wednesday (26 October)

Coming to the end of the international press tour ahead of the worldwide release on Friday (28 October) Billy says it’s exciting for the film to be available worldwide.

“I’ve never had that experience, not in a live-action movie. And certainly not in one that I’ve been heavily involved with as I have been with this.

“I’m very grateful, we’re so proud of the movie. It’s a really funny, entertaining movie, I think it’s an uplifting movie. It’s nice to put a movie [out] that ends on a note of optimism into the world because so much of the world is so cynical and for good reason.”

He’s also proud to have made a movie that is authentic to the gay male experience as he knows it.

“No one movie, no one character can speak to the entirety of a community but I think we’ve kept it honest as much as we could in addition to trying to make it funny and I feel it resonating with the gay men that watch the movie and that’s something I’m really proud of.”

Addressing the gap between Bros‘ “disappointing” box office figures in the US and the overwhelmingly positive reviews and online and word-of-mouth chatter Billy admits, “Bros was always going to be an uphill climb and a challenging film to release in movie theaters for multiple reasons.”

He continues, “It’s one of the best-reviewed comedies of the year, the audience score is really high, our Rotten Tomatoes reviews have been great, the Cinemascore was great.

“I think it’s a really special movie and a really funny movie. So, however, people discover it I hope that they do.”

Nicholas Stoller adds that “there’s no lesson really to draw”.

He’s confident that Bros will continue to have a life after its cinematic release like most films.

“That’s been true of all the movies I’ve made except Bad Neighbours. They’ve all done fine in theatres and then had these long lives afterward,” referencing another film of his, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

“When it came out people were like ‘this is cute,’ now they’re like, ‘that’s my favourite movie! I’ve watched it 100 times!’ so I’m used to that trajectory.

Luke Macfarlane addressed the same topic in his recent digital cover interview. He told Attitude, “I think it’s a really funny movie. Maybe we could have changed the marketing, but I don’t think it was that…

“Maybe it’s what we often say about living in a bubble because everybody I know really liked it. It’s a very big country, the United States.”

Bros is in UK cinemas from 28 October.