Nicholas Stoller is one of the few directors left who can get a comedy in theaters, now he’s going all in with his gay rom-com, ‘Bros.’
Kind of quietly, Nicholas Stoller became, quite possibly, the current king of the theatrical comedy. In that, well, he’s only one of a handful of directors who can still get a wide-release comedy made. As Stoller points out, a lot of his contemporary comedy directors – like Adam McKay and Todd Phillips – have moved on to other genres. But the comedy directors behind him (and there are still a lot of good comedy movies made) mostly seem to have their films go straight to streaming. Or, if it does get a theatrical run, it’s a limited release.
But Stoller’s movies keep chugging along and, when you look at his filmography – which includes Forgetting Sarah Marshall and two Neighbors movies – but Bros will be his first in this new world where, around the time the pandemic started, wide-release comedies just don’t happen anymore. But there’s more than just the future of comedies riding on Bros, it’s also a romantic comedy starring a primarily gay cast with a story centering on two gay characters. And we all know what happens if Bros underperforms. (Or, more accurately, what won’t happen.)
Bros premiered a few weeks ago at the Toronto International Film Festival and, speaking as someone who was there, it was quite a moment. Anyone who doubts a comedy can still work in theaters should have witnessed the scene that evening. I couldn’t hear a good portion of the dialogue because of the nonstop laughter. In Bros, Billy Eichner plays Bobby, a museum curator who prides himself on his quick wit and intelligence but has doubts about his looks. He meets Aaron (Luke Macfarlane), an impossibly handsome man who loves sports and Garth Brooks. These two have very little in common, which is what makes watching a movie about them so entertaining. Bros follows the conventional beats of any other rom-com, but is an unconventional mainstream movie about two gay men in New York City. In that, there aren’t a lot of wide-release studio movies that feature (as Stoller was quick to remind me) two foursomes.
Ahead, Stoller gives us his dissertation on the current state of the theatrical comedy and why he strongly disagrees with the Hollywood groupthink that they no longer work. Also, he explains how he’s wanted to make a movie like this for a long time, but, obviously, it wasn’t his story to tell. And how Billy Eichner changed all of that.
So here’s what I keep thinking. When I look at your filmography, how are you not one of the five most famous directors working today? But at the same time, you’re one of the very few directors who can get a wide-release comedy into theaters … so maybe you are?
[Laughs] Well, I mean I should be much more famous. No, I have no idea.
I can count on one hand who can get a wide-release comedy into movie theaters these days.
I mean, a lot of my peers are people who are a little older than me who are comedy directors, or were comedy directors who just stopped making comedies. They became artistically interested in other stuff. So you think about Adam McKay or Todd Phillips. And then I’m sure there are people coming up behind me who are interested in this as well.
There are, but all those movies are going to streaming. There are still great comedies out there, but they’re all on streaming. And you still get yours in theaters and you’re one of the few that’s left and I’m sure you’ve thought about that.
I think, also, a strange thing happened. Hollywood, like a lot of industries, suffers from groupthink sometimes. At some point in 2019, or at the beginning of the pandemic, Hollywood was like, oh, all right, comedy just doesn’t work in theaters. And it’s not true. There just hasn’t been one in a while. By the way, I’ll eat my words if this doesn’t work Friday. But, I think people, it’s a primal enjoyment about going to a movie theater and being surrounded by people and laughing and clapping at things and having that experience that really only a comedy… It’s like a horror movie, where it’s fun to go to a horror movie and all scream at the same time or whatever. So, I think that you can really only have in a theater. So, I don’t really know why everyone decided that. Hopefully, this movie will be like, no, see, we can still do it.
I hate asking the question, “do you feel pressure?,” because usually that means about your own career.
