Back in the day, at the height of his powers, Judd Apatow handed rom-coms out to all his friends. Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill and more all saw parts from Apatow. The comedy guru has calmed down a bit — his last significant vehicle was the Amy Schumer-led Trainwreck in 2015 — but lately he’s been once more picking up steam.
Recently he announced Apatow was producing an autobiographical Pete Davidson movie. Now his company’s doing a rom-com starring professional loudmouth Billy Eichner. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the host/star of the on-indefinite-hiatus Billy on the Street (and Lion King voice cast member) will headline a rare big studio gay love story, in which he’ll play one of two men with commitment issues who attempt a relationship.
There’s no word yet on who Eichner’s other half will be, but the director is Nicholas Stoller, who helmed such Apatow productions as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek, and Neighbors. Eichner and Stoller previously collaborated on the Netflix series Friends from College.
Since his memorable breakthrough turn on Parks and Recreation, Eichner has cornered the market on abrasive, intense, bitchy shouters; the delightful Billy on the Street found him regularly harassing and insulting New Yorkers and tourists like an extreme version of late night people-on-the-street reportage. One of his finer pranks involved telling randos that Seth Rogen just died, all while Rogen himself filmed the encounters. He recently revived the show in a one-off stroll around town with Lin-Manuel Miranda.
It will be a blast to see what he has in store for the long-dormant yet slowly reviving romantic-comedy. Hopefully, it involves an Ingmar Bergman-level of relationship bickering.
(Via THR)
