Billy Eichner talks gay sex, dating, and foursomes in ‘Bros’

Outside of its all-queer cast, the big story around Billy Eichner‘s Bros is that it’s the first gay romantic comedy to be released by a major Hollywood studio in theaters nationwide. Sure, in our own gay bubble, we’ve been talking about the movie non-stop since that first raunchy trailer dropped, but it remains to be seen if that buzz will translate to a wider audience.

In other words, will the straights turn up for Bros?

Eichner sure thinks so. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the writer-star opened up about reactions to early preview screenings, many of which have been very intentionally filled with cis, straight audiences (although Mariah Carey is making sure to give the gays an early look at the movie, too). And it sounds like they’re loving it!

Scenes like an early date between Eichner’s character Bobby and Aaron (Luke Macfarlane)—one that ends in a “near foursome”—feel legitimately unexpected in a major studio movie; these are things that some mainstream audiences have never seen before, giving the comedy of Bros a real freshness.

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“There’s an excitement to the reaction we’re getting from straight audiences who’ve seen the movie at early screenings,” shared Eichner. “Because it feels like you’re getting a peek behind the curtain at a culture of dating and sex that straight people think they understand, but they don’t really know what it’s like.”

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Though Bros is, in part, an homage to the classic “adult” rom-coms from genre forebears like Nora Ephron and James L. Brooks, Eichner was adamant that his movie doesn’t simply swap out a straight couple for a gay one—it’s playing by its own set of rules, depicting all of the ways dating is unique for men who like men.

“We have our own rules about what’s ethical or not ethical, in terms of dating and commitment and monogamy,” the star added. “And two men together is a very unique, specific romantic situation. Because yes, we’re gay. But, as I often tell my straight friends, we’re still men.”

“I think straight people think we’re basically women,” he continued. “We are men! I always say to my straight male friends, ‘Think about all the weird, f*cked-up male sh*t you have in your brain about sex and monogamy and being vulnerable. Now times that by two.’ That’s going to be a very complicated situation, and we’ve really never seen it explored.”

That was something Eichner had to work to get through to Nicholas Stoller, Bros‘ straight director who has been married for years. The filmmaker behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Neighbors, Stoller admitted he came to the project believing that all relationships are “on some fundamental level, the same.” But Eichner was quick to let him know that that was not at all the case.

“I kind of went to a class taught by him where he explains, in great detail, all the differences,” said Stoller. “And at the end of the day, they’re the same—and different.”

Eichner also shared the one time he got frustrated with his director: “We were thinking about Bobby’s arc in the movie, and he said to me, ‘If you’re 40 and you’re single, there has to be something wrong with you.’ And I exploded. I got so mad! I think that’s an old-fashioned notion even for younger straight couples. They’re polyamorous and they’re this and they’re that.”

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But it was those teachable moments behind the scenes that gave both men hope that Bros is the type of movie that audiences need right now—one that can bring us together through comedy, and should be seen by as many people as possible:

“You have all these pieces of shit like Ron DeSantis trying to divide us,” added Stoller, “and it’s just a bunch of bullshit to distract from failed policies. Hopefully, this movie does some work to bridge those fake divides.”

Bros opens in theaters everywhere on September 30.