Billy Eichner Is Writing and Starring in a Gay Romantic Comedy

By Clare Martin  |  February 6, 2019 | 12:20pm
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Billy Eichner Is Writing and Starring in a Gay Romantic Comedy

Nearly a week ahead of Valentine’s Day, we have some lovely romantic news: Professional shouter and general funnyman Billy Eichner is writing and starring in a rom-com for Universal, as per Deadline. Eichner is co-writing with Nick Stoller, director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Neighbors, who’s set to direct and produce this as-yet-untitled project. Judd Apatow, fearful of being excluded from any big studio rom-com, is co-producing alongside Stoller.

The film follows two men who are commitment-phobes, but try to make a relationship work anyway. Needless to say, a major studio rom-com centered on a same-sex couple, rather than pigeonholing them as comic-relief side characters, is a welcome change.

This will be the first feature Eichner’s written. He’s certainly graduated from being the guy who yells “for a dollar” in New York pedestrians’ faces (though he was really, really good at that). Recently, Eichner appeared in Friends from College and he’s voicing Timon in the forthcoming reboot of The Lion King.

Stoller’s writing credits include The Muppets (2011), Get Him to the Greek and Friends from College, which he co-created with his wife, Francesca Delbanco. Apatow’s most successful recent foray into the world of rom-coms was as a producer on The Big Sick back in 2017. Oh, and lest we forget, he’s writing, producing and directing a forthcoming comedy centered on Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson.

 
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