How ‘Bros’ Built the LGBTQ Museum for Billy Eichner’s Gay Rom-Com

Director Billy Eichner’s “Bros” made history as the first gay rom-com to be given a wide theatrical release by a major studio, as well as the first with the fully open LGBTQ cast. From the nightclub where Eichner’s Bobby meets and falls in love with Luke McFarlane Buff Aaron, to the grand opening of the LGBTQ+ Museum, the Big Apple love story features many amazing collections – plus a carefully curated DVD rack.

While “Bros” was supposed to be produced in Buffalo, New York, pandemic plans were thwarted, and with a new tax credit stimulus, New Jersey became an alternative venue for rom-com (with some scenes filmed on the streets of New York and Provincetown). sitting with diverseWriter and director Nicholas Stoller and production designer Lisa Myers exchange ideas about the film’s major sets.

Bobby’s apartment

Bobby’s apartment was deep, but it was small and had a dining table that could be extended.

Image source: Universal Pictures

Myers: “We looked at what a person of his age living in New York would be able to do with his background and space. We knew we were going to spend a lot of time there. It was important for us to create a space with great depth where you could see in the different rooms. All the artwork. It makes sense. They are all LGBTQ artists. Books and DVDs curated.”

Bobby’s DVD Watch List, Courtesy of Lisa Myers

Stoller: “Looks like this guy can live there. It doesn’t sound like a crazy idea, and it’s beautiful. Our cinematographer Brandon Trost kept asking, ‘Shall we shoot another scene of him sitting on the couch?’ It’s a New York apartment, all you do is sit on your sofa. So, we chose a beautiful light gray blue, and that palette was masculine yet elegant.”

Myers: “For the Thanksgiving scene, it’s clearly not a huge apartment with a huge table. We had this table that you can flip and extend when you have guests, and that was a detail that we got into.”

LGBTQ Museum +

The LGBTQ+ Museum was photographed at the Newark Museum of Art

Image source: Nicole Rivelli / Universal Pictures

Stoller: “A museum has to feel like a real museum. It gets silly at the end, but the exhibits needed to feel real. Our site manager and Lisa set up the Newark Museum of Art, so we used that on the front of the building and in almost all of the museum spaces inside. At the end when they walk down the street this is Central Park West. The museum was really helpful with us. They let us do what we needed to do and build this beautiful LGBTQ museum that needed to feel like there were big stakes and that it was a big museum.”

Myers: “We had four historians work with us so that all the little publicity would be accurate and real in the museum. It wouldn’t have been right to have Lorem Ipsum when you represent all these amazing historical figures in a world whose bizarre history has been erased. We also had the space to work with us logistically. They managed to give us whole floors so we could go from the Lincoln Gallery to the Legends Pavilion.”

Nightclub

Production designer Lisa Myers found White Eagle Music Hall the perfect spot for a nightclub.

Image source: KC Bailey / Universal Pictures

Myers: “When we were looking, we were looking to find a two-level space because it made sense to block when Bobby and Aaron first see each other. It was White Eagle Music Hall in Jersey City. Billy wanted to make sure it sounded real. It wouldn’t be something that shiny you’d expect To find it in Manhattan, but it’s more like a place he has to go deep into Brooklyn to get to it.”



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