Billy Eichner on gay-for-pay actors and what you won’t see in his new movie ‘Bros’
Fire Island, the buzz is ramping up for Billy Eichner‘s Bros, which is set to debut in theaters on September 30. In an exclusive interview with Empire Magazine, the Billy On The Street star shed some light on his film’s gag-worthy cast, a proper “Who’s Who?” of queer talent.
As has been previously reported, many of these actors will be playing straight characters—in fact, Eichner confirms that every single principal member of the cast is from the LGBTQ community.“It felt like the right thing to do ethically, and creatively it adds something that’s hard to articulate,” the actor—who co-wrote the movie with its director, Nicholas Stoller, shares. “To look around and know we’re making this historic movie and that all of us are representing the entire community… it was really f*cking magical.”The debate over whether or not straight actors should be able to play queer characters has been raging for years now, but Bros‘ queer casting coup throws an interesting wrench in things.
What about when the tables are turned? Eichner gives his two cents: “In theory, I have no problem with straight actors playing gay if they’re worthy of the role.
But shouldn’t gay actors get to play our own characters? Can anybody flesh out an LGBTQ+ character like an LGBTQ+ actor?”Amen!As a light refresher, here are just a few of the gays we’ll be seeing on the big screen in Bros: Luke Macfarlane (Brothers And Sisters), theater legend Harvey Fierstein, Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live), Guillermo Díaz (Scandal), icon Ts Madison, Dot-Maries Jones (Glee), Jim Rash (Community), Monica Raymund (Chicago Fire)—*deep breath*—comedian Guy Branum, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 14 crowned queen Symone, Amanda Bearse (Married… With Children), Jai Rodriguez (Queer Eye.
