“I’m a huge Mariah Carey fan, and I’m a huge Madonna fan. I’ve gotten to shoot with both of them over the years, which was amazing. I once heard that Mariah wrote a song that Madonna recorded, and I wanted to ask Mariah about that — but I got scared! [The song] never got released, but I do think it exists. I’m curious!” “At the same time, you don’t sit down to write a historic movie, or even a gay movie — you sit down to write a hilarious, smart, and heartwarming movie. Sometimes, I get worried that that message gets lost that this is ultimately a big comedy. At the end of the day, it’s wall-to-wall jokes and physical comedy — and there are some more thoughtful, poignant moments in it. “Ultimately, our goal was to make a movie that really gave people a good reason to leave their house and go to the movie theater. That’s because it’s very rare to have a movie make you laugh out loud from start to finish. Whether you’re straight or gay, or LGBTQ, whatever you are, no matter who’s in the audience, that was our goal.” “I grew up in New York City, and my first love was singing, which I get to do a little bit of in Bros. My first dream was to be on Broadway or Off Broadway, just to do theater in New York. I’m not exactly sure what the role is, but I would love to do a great play or a musical. That’s something I think would be really exciting and challenging.” I said, ‘Yeah, of course,’ because our movies come out on consecutive weekends. I’ve known Olivia a while; she was a guest on Billy on the Street. She was hilarious. She’s been a fan of mine for a long time. So, that truly is the most recent person I’ve emailed with.” “At the same time, I was never that good at it. Even when I was good at it, no one knew what to do with me. My best work was either created for me by me or a close friend of mine created it for me specifically. I’m getting used to that — being the writer and the producer gives you a lot of creative control that you don’t get if you’re simply an actor walking onto set, unless maybe you’re some huge movie star. I really lost out on most roles that I auditioned for.” “I’m very much a one-project-at-a-time type of person. I’m not a great multitasker when it comes to writing. So, my focus is very much Bros right now. Hopefully, people — everyone, straight people, gay people, LGBTQ people, anyone who wants to laugh a lot — make their way into the movie theater to see it and support it. And I’ll get to make more movies, and other LGBTQ folks will get to make more movies. That’s what it’s going to take to make that happen.”
