On set, none of Eichner’s co-stars looked like they were learning on the job. Legends Pavilion, its glass cases devoted to figures like James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein, the trans activist Sylvia Rivera and the nonbinary Native American artist We’wha. Which explains why, after a pandemic delay, the production designers had transformed that Newark gallery into the L.G.B.T.Q. As one of the first major releases of its kind, its creators felt a duty to instruct as well as entertain. And we all have baggage and those are the issues which make for great comedy.”īut “Bros” couldn’t be just another comedy. Out and proud but also scared and self-doubting, Bobby stumbles toward a relationship with Aaron (Luke Macfarlane), a macho trusts and estates lawyer.ĭespite the Grindr and orgy particulars, Apatow, another diversity hire, emphasized the story’s universal aspects. It’s just not something that has happened to me.”Īnd then one night, a story began to suggest itself: two men, attracted to each other but both wary of commitment, especially as they grew up before same-sex marriage was legalized. “I’m not against them, I’m not an antirelationship person. “I haven’t had many serious relationships in my adult life,” he said. Still, he agreed to write “Bros.” Even though he worried he wouldn’t have anything to say. “It was just always implied that my options would be very limited,” he said. And that even gay roles - in “In & Out,” say, or “The Birdcage,” or “Brokeback Mountain,” which “Bros” briefly satirizes - were often played by straight actors. I could be Tom Hanks in this movie.”īut two decades in the entertainment industry had taught him that as a gay man, the Tom Hanks roles were not available to him. Staring up at the screen, as a 14-year-old, Eichner remembered thinking, “I could do that. His parents took him to “When Harry Met Sally,” “Pretty Woman” (yikes), “Dirty Dancing,” “Sleepless in Seattle.” And he had come to believe he never would. “Definitely,” Stoller remembers Eichner saying.Įichner, speaking in April from, as he put it, “Las Vegas, of all terrible places,” where he had just debuted the “Bros” trailer, remembers it a little differently.
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He thought immediately of Eichner, whom he had worked with on “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” and the acerbic Netflix series “Friends From College.” In between seasons of that show, he called Eichner up, suggesting they collaborate. “I’m the diversity hire,” Stoller, who is straight, told me.