Adding 'so much style': Provincetown a key part of Billy Eichner gay rom-com 'Bros'

Editor's note: This story was changed Sept. 28 to correct the name of the movie, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”

Keep an eye out for Provincetown in one of the most talked-about movies of the fall.

The cast and crew for “Bros” — noted for being the first gay romantic comedy made by a major Hollywood studio for theatrical release — came to Provincetown a year ago for just one day of filming. But the scenes shot here seem to have proved pivotal to one of the story’s messages.

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The movie, which opens in theaters Friday, stars and was co-written by actor/comedian Billy Eichner (TV's "Parks and Recreation," "Billy on the Street," "American Horror Story"). He plays Bobby, a podcaster who is trying to establish a national museum to tell LGBTQ+ history.

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“Bros” was directed and co-written by Nicholas Stoller (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Neighbors,” "The Five-Year Engagement") and produced by Judd Apatow (“Trainwreck,” “Bridesmaids,” "The 40-Year-Old Virgin").

In “Bros,” Bobby meets lawyer Aaron (Luke Macfarlane, from TV’s “Brothers and Sisters” and various Hallmark Christmas movies as a straight lead), and as part of their courtship, they travel to Provincetown on a fundraising trip that is also designed as a romantic getaway.

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While Universal Studios was unable to make “Bros” or its makers available by our deadline, early online reviews indicate that Bowen Yang plays a billionaire in Provincetown whom Bobby hopes will invest in the museum, and Harvey Fierstein shows up as a gay friend who’s letting them stay at his place.

Yang, a 2021 and 2022 Emmy Award nominee for various “Saturday Night Live” characters, already had a Provincetown connection: He received a Next Wave Award at June’s Provincetown Film Festival in connection with the Hulu streaming release of the gay rom-com “Fire Island.”

The most personal moment

In recent interviews with Time magazine and Variety, Eichner talked about an emotional scene in “Bros” that is set on a Provincetown beach. In that scene, Bobby talks about years of trying to fit in and the people who told him being gay would hold him back from success, that “I was always too gay or too niche or I made people uncomfortable.”

Variety described the scene as “the movie’s most personal moment” and said Stoller has called it many viewers’ favorite scene. When the film premiered earlier this month at the Toronto International Film Festival, cast members talked about the importance of such LGBTQ representation for the youth who would see the movie.

“Bros” has gained national attention for its good reviews — a 94% positive rating from the Rotten Tomatoes site after aggregating 31 published reviews — and enthusiastic reception at the Toronto festival. It’s also the first major studio film with an all-LGBTQ principal cast (and much of its crew), and the first major theatrical release to both star and be co-written by an openly gay man.

When asked in the Time interview why it’s taken so long for a romantic comedy starring two gay men to be on the big screen, Eichner answered that the world, including Hollywood, “has been very homophobic."

"And it's a complicated topic, because in some ways Hollywood has often led the charge when it came to LGBTQ issues and representation,” he said. “And yet, underneath it all, I think there was always a fear that the quote-unquote mainstream audience wasn't necessarily ready for this type of movie. And I think, because of that, a lot of our stories weren't told."

More: Filming starts in Truro, Provincetown: Love is a theme with Hollywood producer Pete Shilaimon

Eichner told Time that he worried in particular about how the studio would react to the length of that Provincetown beach monologue, which was “heavily and very specifically inspired by real moments in my life.” But Universal, he said, particularly praised that scene after an early screening.

Filming 'Bros' in Provincetown

Having Provincetown be part of “Bros” was important for Eichner, he said for a story that appeared recently on Out in New Jersey and Get Out online sites: “Provincetown is maybe my favorite place on earth,” Eichner said. “It’s as far out on Cape Cod as you can get. Being able to film in Provincetown added so much style to the classical romantic story. The town has a rich, gay history but is beautiful, sexy, and fun. It is so welcoming to everyone that Nick (Stoller, the director), who is straight, and married with three kids, takes his family there every summer. It is also the first place that we began filming.”

The importance of Provincetown was also signaled by it being one of 12 stops, with major cities as most of the others, for a “Bros-Mobile” bus featuring footage of the film. According to Eichner’s social media, the promotional bus parked at the corner of Bradford and Standish streets as part of August’s Carnival Week in Provincetown.

Paperwork filed with the town to get permission to film in September 2021 showed that about 120 film crew members were on site to make the local scenes for the NBC Universal production happen.

The scenes to be filmed were the couple walking around the West End of Commercial Street, according to the paperwork. They were to have a drink at the Red Inn, and then walk down to MacMillan Pier. They would go to fudge shops, the Toys of Eros retail store, and eat pizza at Spiritus Pizza. They would walk by the Atlantic House bar, the Boatslip resort and end their day with dinner at The Canteen, where they’d then watch the sunset on the beach behind it.

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Other shots that were to be taken involved the Provincetown sign on Route 6A, near Snail Road; some background actors passing out flyers at the Crown & Anchor resort; and shots of the pier, Commercial Street and the sunset at the rock jetty at the West End rotary.

Online drama and a message to the haters

While “Bros” is getting attention for its theatrical release, it’s been a good year for LGBTQ+ representation in viewing media. In June, streaming service Hulu released “Fire Island,” a rom-com set on Long Island with similar LGBTQ credentials in cast and crew. The movie was written by and stars Joel Kim Booster, with Yang playing his best friend and both having romance troubles in a loose adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice.”

“Fire Island” and “Bros” were part of some online drama in late August after Eichner was quoted in the Variety interview saying that “Hollywood took a century to make this film (“Bros”) … And this is not an indie movie. This is not some streaming thing which feels disposable, or which is like one of a million Netflix shows.”

There was backlash on social media from fans and some people in the industry who felt that Eichner was being critical of “Fire Island” as well as 2020’s “Happiest Season,” a rom-com with two women, played by Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis, that was released on Hulu after the COVID-19 pandemic nixed its theatrical release.

But Eichner then clarified his comments on Twitter, saying: “I was not at ALL referring to the quality or monumental impact of streaming films, I was referring to the way that, historically, LGBTQ+ content has often been considered niche and disregarded by Hollywood. … And I am very proud 'Bros' is one of many projects — theatrical, streaming, online, etc — where so many of us are finally getting to tell our own LGBTQ+ stories. …

“Being an openly gay man and a loud and proud part of the LGBTQ+ community is one of the things I am most proud of in my whole damn life. And from the bottom of my heart I truly am so sorry if I inadvertently offended or insulted anyone. I really am.”

Eichner also hopes “Bros” will be part of a larger message of LGBTQ+ stories that carries beyond the entertainment world.

As part of an introduction for Panic at the Disco at the Video Music Awards in August, Eichner used the platform to encourage people to buy a ticket to “Bros” to fight the haters.

“We need to show all the homophobes like (U.S. Supreme Court Justice) Clarence Thomas and all the homophobes on the Supreme Court that we want gay love stories and we support LGBTQ people,” Eichner said, “and we are not letting them drag us back into the last century. Because they are in the past and ‘Bros’ is the future.”

Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Billy Eichner 'Bros' movie filmed key scene in Provincetown Cape Cod