Billy Eichner is set to star in a groundbreaking gay rom com movie
Billy Eichner is set to star in a new gay rom com directed by Judd Apatow (Ethan Miller/Getty)
Billy Eichner is set to write and star in a gay romantic comedy movie.
The as-yet-untitled gay rom com movie will focus on two men with commitment issues who attempt to have a relationship with each other, according to Deadline.
Billy Eichner expressed his delight with the gay movie news on February 5. (billyeichner/twitter)
Eichner confirmed the news on Tuesday (February 5), writing on Twitter: “Excited, terrified, completely in shock and PROUD as hell to announce this movie. We’re making a big, new romantic comedy for Universal!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!”
The groundbreaking story will be helmed by Love and Girls producer Judd Apatow and directed by Nick Stoller, who has previously directed films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Neighbors.
Gay rom com news follows wave of bisexual and lesbian rom coms
News of Eichner‘s gay rom com follows the revelation last month that Mackenzie Davis is in talks to play Kristen Stewart’s girlfriend in lesbian romantic comedy Happiest Season.
Davis, who has starred in award-winning Black Mirror episode “San Junipero” and Oscar-nominated film The Martian, would be joining a film directed by out lesbian Clea Duvall, who has starred in hits like But I’m a Cheerleader and She’s All That.
Watch lesbian comedians Chloe Green and Ruby rate and review the best (and worst) lesbian rom coms:
Happiest Season will follow the story of a young woman who plans to propose to her partner at her family’s annual Christmas party—only to discover that her would-be fiancée hasn’t come out to her conservative parents.
Another film about queer women, The Favourite, was nominated for 10 Oscars last month.
It features Emma Stone’s Baroness Masham and Rachel Weisz’s Duchess of Marlborough fighting for the affections of Olivia Colman’s Queen Anne.
Stone revealed last year that it was her idea to be naked for the first time in her career in the film.
“I think it’s going to give Sarah something to look at when she sees that I’m not just under the sheet covered up.”
— Emma Stone
“I had the sheet up around me,” she explained. “And as we were shooting it and we did a few takes, I said: ‘Can I please just be [naked]?’
“‘I think it’s going to give Sarah something to look at when she sees that I’m not just under the sheet covered up.’”
Happiest Season wasn’t even the first gay rom com about Christmas to be announced in recent times, after Life-Size 2 was released in December, featuring Francia Raisa as the bisexual main character, Grace.
Among the numerous other critically acclaimed films starring women who love women is Colette, a biographical drama starring Keira Knightley.
Lesbian rom com Happiest Season will reportedly feature Mackenzie Davis alongside Kristen Stewart (Sonia Recchia/Getty and Frazer Harrison/Getty)
The film details the life of French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, who had several lesbian affairs while married.
Knightley explained in November that the lesbian sex scenes in Colette were toned down so that they weren’t “seen through the male gaze.”
Last year, barrier-breaking Kenyan film Rafiki won three awards at two US film festivals, despite being banned in Kenya for its lesbian love story.
The film shattered box office records in just a week.
