Billy Eichner’s ‘Bros’ hits Toronto with big laughs and hot sex tips

Friday was a big night for audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival, with an exciting screening of Gina Prince-Bythewood’s epic “The Woman King” at Roy Thomson Hall and Nicholas Stoller’s “Bros”. The first took place a few hours later. A noisy crowd in the visa screening room at the Princess of Wales Theater.

Both films wowed the crowd by placing a group of black warriors (led by Viola Davis) in TIFF’s two largest theaters, “The Woman King” at the center of a large-scale action movie and “Bros”. . As co-writer and star Billy Eichner put it, “an R-rated gay romantic comedy will be released in over 3,000 theaters” by Universal.

And it’s not that Eichner is competitive or anything, but when he took the stage with Stoller and the rest of the cast at the end of the screening, he spoke at length, referring to the genre’s increased reception at this year’s Venice film. . encouraged to stand up. Festival.

“To go!” She screamed. “whale!’ Longer than I. She needs a longer ovation than that.

It’s safe to say that “The Whale” didn’t get a standing ovation from the six-minute “bros” in Venice waving to star Brendan Fraser, but who mattered besides Eichner? Also, the questions and answers that followed “Bros” almost certainly included the riskiest trade-off of all post-screening celebrations in recent memory.

It all started when an audience member asked the speakers a question: Stoller, Eichner, and about eight other actors from the film, an all-time raging romantic comedy that depicts the LGBTQ + alphabet and contains a lot of sex.

“What’s the one thing you would like young people to stay away from?” she asked the questioner.

“May the poppers help with anal sex!” Actor Guy Branum responded quickly.

The crowd burst into laughter and applause, and Eicher laughed too. “You did not hear He At the “Don’t Worry Darling” press conference! She screamed.

Well no, you didn’t. “Bros” is a rather unique voice on the film festival circuit this year, not because it’s a gay relationship, but because it takes on the sensibilities of producer Judd Apatow and co-writer and director Stoller, whose previous films include ” Forget Sarah “—Marshalls”, “Meet Me at the Greek” and “Neighbors” —and apply them to a story that isn’t interested in trying to fit gay characters into the typical romantic comedy model.

In fact, he makes fun of the idea of ​​doing it in a scene at the beginning of the film, in which Eicher’s character Bobby is asked to write a gay romantic comedy for a studio executive, who is actually not just a parody. . The borderless is interested in the film that will show “Pyaar Pyaar Hai Pyaar Hai”.

Bobby spits out pop culture references and lewd insults almost as enthusiastically as the person playing him disagrees, just like the “brothers”. With a cast in which all LGBTQ characters are played by LGBTQ actors, the film manages to demonstrate that, as Branum also said in Questions and Answers, “queer life is different from straight life.”

Eicher said the film began when Stoller (“straight man, for better or for worse”) decided his next film should be a romantic comedy about a gay couple. He and Eicher started writing it together – and no, he said in response to another audience question, he didn’t think about the responsibility of writing the first gay romantic comedy of a big name. study.

“I don’t stop and think, ‘Let’s make a historical film!’ says Eicher.

“I do, in fact, every time I open the final draft,” Stoller interrupted.

However, Eicher said he feels some responsibility as an openly gay producer. “I want gay men and women to go to the theater, look at the screen and say, ‘This is us,'” he said.

“They always tell you to write what you know. What if I wrote what I know, what if I wrote the truth and scared people? … I lived with him and for many years he had to sail. … But Judd and everyone at Universal said, “Don’t worry about that.”