Can Luke Macfarlane's career recover from Bros flop?

Is Jackie here?

Is this a flop? People do not go to the movies. They watch at home with friends or family. It will have longevity bc it is groundbreaking and funny.

He's utterly done. He'll be lucky to be a staff writer on a LOGO show.

Oh, we're talking about Luke, not Billy? He'll be fine. He'll get more and better roles from this, since he got the most consistent notices of anyone in the cast.

He's hot and masculine presenting, he'll be just fine.

The bigger issue with Bros is that his character would NEVER (and I mean NEVER) have ended up with Billy Eichner's character. That's just gay culture 101.

There's always rentmen! And there's always money in the banana stand! (The banana stand is a sex move he'll have to learn if he wants to make money on rentmen).

Bros is NOT a flop. And handsome Luke MacFarlane was the highlight of the movie. Bros will find its audience in one form or another and Luke will march upward and onward to other acting roles!!!

I’m concerned as well. While I don’t see a plunge into Skinemax projects, I’m afraid he may be in for a future career even more obscure; pigeonholed into those gay movies shown at the front of the TLA video catalog.

he can always start an OF

He’ll just have to put out more.

Everyone going to watch it, when it gets on a streaming platform.

Luke MacFarlane is dreamy, he makes me wet for his sexy loins... ;-)

Why can't he do more Hallmark movies if he wants to? He's been out forever, so that isn't an issue.

I hope so. I've seen very few people blame him for the movie's disappointing opening. (See, Eichner's desperate need to be the center of attention has a silver lining!)

Hopefully he can just keep his head down, do that comedy series with Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, and parlay it into more mainstream opportunities than were on the table when [italic]Brothers & Sisters[/italic] concluded.

i want him in my bed face down ass up

He already signed a deal for multiple more Hallmark movies back in May. He was sensible enough to know to that's his bread and butter. Even if Bros had been a big hit, it's not like it would have done much for his movie career. There aren't exactly a lot of opportunities for gay leading men in big movies.

The director of Bros also signed him up for a new Apple+ series in May. His career is doing fine.

I saw it tonight. His character would have never begged and chased after hideous BE

Luke MacFarlane's character was a fan of Billy Eichner's character before they even met, he was a listener to his podcast.

I don't know much about this dude than when Perez outed Wentworth Miller he was the dude miss Miller was rumored to be dating. Most of you gays keep up with his career which makes sense. I don't follow openly gay actors career.

Funny that you don't hear the same criticism of heterosexual romcoms. The male lead is often WAY hotter than the frumpy female. 50 Shades is a great example of this. Hot, handsome, accomplished, rich guy becomes obsessed with and relentlessly pursues a nerdy, awkward, "average in every way" plain faced girl who works in a hardware store. Ridiculous.

^It's a cheap and easy plot device that is (usually) very effective in putting butts in theater seats. Because it plays into the delusional fantasies of every boring, average person who ever lived.

You guys should buy 10 tickets each

Eichner is not a boring, average person in the movie. That was part of the issue. He is a ranting, self-righteous, obnoxious, selfish, toxic person. And he is unattractive. Macfarlane’s character would never have approached him. And if he had (because yes - he was a fan of the podcast), he would have quickly been turned off by Eichner’s rudeness and negativity and made a hasty exit.

In straight films, the boring, average female is a proxy for the boring, average female audience - agreed. And that’s a large portion of the population. But I don’t know who was supposed to identify with the Eichner character. Angry white gay men in their 40s? If so - great. But that’s a relatively small class for the audience of a blockbuster movie.

Macfarlane was the best part of it and he’s barely done press for it. He will be fine. Straight people aren’t seeing this (especially not the Hallmark crowd) and won’t remember he was in it. Also, the sex scenes aren’t very explicit and you don’t even see his ass. He hopefully got a good paycheck from this and can move on quickly.

Luke will be fine. He's been out for years and Hallmark have still asked him to do their Christmas movies.

In fact, they're even branching into gay Christmas movies, so Luke will surely be their first pick for the leading man every time. Admittedly, they'll be written with straight women in mind (so a strictly monogamous handsome clean-cut couple) but work's work and that seems to be more suitable for Luke anyway.

[quote] The bigger issue with Bros is that his character would NEVER (and I mean NEVER) have ended up with Billy Eichner's character.

I don’t think either of these boys are cute (and I recognize that Luke is much conventionally better looking than B) but I see gay couples that are ‘mismatched’ in terms of their traditional or general attractiveness all the time. I don’t think this is unrealistic in the slightest. Maybe Luke’s character is more circuity and that would have a real time effect maybe but a lot of the couples I see around and know personally have very different levels of physical attraction (being as objective as I can).

He doesn’t really have a career OP. He’s just going back to what he was doing. Shitty Hallmark movies.

More importantly, can Luke recover from the "cold sore" given to him by Billy?

Of course. He has gained a devoted following since his days on Brothers and Sisters, and also established even more of a base through his Hallmark movies. He's undeniably hot, and a good actor. Plus he has done himself a huge favor by staying out of this post opening weekend craziness - which shows he is a classy guy (IMHO).

I actually thought this movie played the looks discrepancy well. Billy Eichner's character wasn't a rando, he is a minor celebrity who MacFarlane was already a fan of. And they directly address it with Eichner constantly being insecure because he does not look like Luke or the guys in his orbit and Luke admits most guys he hooks up with don't look like Eichner.

I had my issues with the movie (it doesn't need to be that preachy!), but not that on that front. Felt they handled it well.

It wasn't exactly a secret he's gay the whole time he was making Hallmarks, was it? Anyway, fat fraus with type II have a thing for hot gays.

He can play the Harry Hamlin role in the long awaited remake of Making Love. Harry Hamlin is not gay and Harry Hamlin was very brave to take on that role.

Depends. Did Billy give Luke gay cooties?

Bros isn’t a flop. It’s a 💣

[quote]50 Shades is a great example of this. Hot, handsome, accomplished, rich guy becomes obsessed with and relentlessly pursues a nerdy, awkward, "average in every way" plain faced girl who works in a hardware store. Ridiculous.

Yeah, but in that case he was an S&M freak with a problematic approach to consent. That probably required someone a bit mousier than the women tycoons usually go for. And her being forgettable and working a low profile job probably would have come in handy if there were an "oopsie" with restraints or masks or ignored safe words.

R29, I agree. I think the movie explained pretty well why Aaron took an interest in Bobby, and why he was so invested in reconciling after he'd actually lowered his defenses and gotten emotionally involved with someone for the first time.

I loved to hate Brothers & Sisters (er, excuse me, I mean The Sally Field Programme).

That was, until the writing went off the rails in the 3rd season. Up to then, I never missed an episode. It had a devoted DL following, too.

Mcfarlane's character was the lone likable character, and I immediately adored his talent and looks.

I've stopped looking down my nose at Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies. Of course they're formulaic, but then, so is a Big Mac and I indulge in one of those occasionally, too.

Steady employment in today's world isn't something to begrudge anybody.

I look forward to Mcfarlane being cast against type, as, say, a Bond or Marvel villain. He's got the acting chops and presence on screen to be one.

So he thought he'd come craaaaawling back to the Hallmark Channel! But the Hallmark Channel doesn't care for FOURSOMES or NECKBEARDS!

lol, r36.

I hope I don't get into trouble for posting this, but, for the life of me, I never understood why Hollywood forced the closet on anybody. But it did. It was real and negatively impacted the careers of so many.

I never understood it because every straight female in my family absolutely SWOONED for Richard Chamberlain as Father Ralph De Bricassart in "The Thorn Birds".

They thought, for a TV movie, his bed scenes with Rachel Ward were blazin' hot.

And they all knew Chamberlain was gayer than a box of Christmas bows.

Yes, that may be an outlier. But still.

Will we ever find out who Luke is dating/living with/married to? His Instagram provides no clues.

It’s not a flip- hardly- unless you think movies have to sell to be good. He’s got a great future.

I seem to remember a year ago Luke was considering retiring from show biz and going back to his family and making a living with his hunky brothers doing something manly.

It depends on how bad he was in the part. But, he's really unlikely to be blamed unless he's the one who brought it down - which he doesn't seem to be.

Also, people who are easy to work with, professional, and look like this are forgiven a lot in Hollywood.

The first thing he did was come out of the closet so there goes his leading man hollywood career. He will never be leading man material. He knows this and he has made peace with it by sticking to making hallmark movies.

I agree Macfarlane will likely not be blamed for this being a flop--the blame may go a bit to Judd Apatow for okaying too many woke and poorly thought-through projects, but the real blame will go to Billy Eichner for being obnoxious, uncompromising, and then extremely negative when things did not go as planned immediately.

He can pull a lifetime of touring Rutanya Alda style, delighting the audiences accross america at screenings of Bros, telling tales of how unhinged Billy was during the shooting and the promo, how ridiculous and OTT his diva tantrums were, how scary it was to work with him and how he was convinced he would win at least 2 academy awards for it, . The movie was largely ridiculed and lead performance was a disaster, but still a perfect excuse for a great evening of fun, because it was such a hit with the gays...oh, wait....

Luke has played it smart, and laid low since all the opening weekend craziness started. Billy has been QUITE vocal, but (unless I missed something) Luke has stayed totally quiet and out of the public's eye. I think that's a good move on his part. I know he has a Hallmark movie coming up in a few weeks, and it seems (if he plays his cards right), he could get more leading roles. He's handsome, a decent actor, and has a devoted fan base.

r25 when I see miss match gay couples it usually means one has money and the other was a barista or analyst at like 30 or something. This is not usually the case of two people with stellar careers (from what I've heard) getting together when the looks don't match up. As Beyonce said, "It must be the cash, cause it ain't your face."

Then to have a successful lawyer begging Billy's character? Hell naw. If this was with Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth as originally planned I could see it. But um, not Luke chasing Billy.

Luke will be the Gina Gershon of Bros. He will be the only one to escape unscathed and still BENEFIT from the movie.

Unlike Showgirls, Bros didn't get bad reviews and Luke has gotten some good notices, but the overall surrounding hoopla of the film has been negative with Billy and Guy shrieking about how the movie has basically been victimized and it's tiring. Luke has wisely stayed quiet and hasn't fanned the flames by joining in with Billy and Guy.

He's proven to be a professional, who showed up on set, did his job, gave a good performance, and somehow made it believable that he could fall in love with Billy's character.

R38 I think it's unlikely unless he chooses to make it public.

It might not be his decision; a lot of those who date those in the public eye don't want to be in the public eye themselves. But if often suits them both, as it's nice for an actor to have a part of their life that isn't publicised.

R46 who was Beyonce targeting “it must be the cash, cause it ain’t your face” at? Her husband?

Jeez. With her fug kids you’d think she’d avoid lyrics like that.

He is a gay man in his mid 40s. His career wouldn’t be shooting to the moon regardless of how this movie did. He will be fine. Be can keep making Hallmark films. Or maybe a show for streaming.

Billy is the one whose career will suffer. This was his big chance and he blew it. Not so much because it was a flop but because of how he handled it.

I think Billy probably would’ve been able to make a living being a talking head for a bit until the inevitable Parks and Rec reboot. This has totally killed his career and made him unemployable beyond maybe script doctoring.

He’s even worse off than Allan Carr after the 89 Oscars. At least Carr didn’t lose the Academy forty million dollars.

I want to see Luke in more gay roles. Next time I want to see him have sex with someone hot, not fug Billy Eichner.

In the "looks discordant" couples I know, the pretty one usually has a personality disorder, and the less attractive one is the only one who will put up with it.

Exactly R49, and her husband is one of the ugliest people on the planet.

Eichner is in a similar situation to Harvey Fierstein’s character in Torch Song Trilogy. He wrote it hence his screaming, screeching, mincing atrocity of a character gets guys he could only dream about. Fug author’s fantasy.

r49 it was a song lyric so perhaps it could be a dig at her own husband or just a funny throw away line. Either way, it's damn true in many circumstances.

Luke did an interview with a small Youtube channel to promote Bros. The gay interviewer tried to get him to talk about drama on the set of Brothers and Sisters and Luke wasn't having it. He wasn't rude but just made it clear he wasn't going to go there. He also asked Luke if he was dating Wentworth when he shot Mariah Carey's video. Again, he was not rude, but refused to answer. He seems to have an aversion to stirring the pot which explains his silence about Bros. I agree with R45. He'll walk away unscathed from this. He already got a part on the Apple show directed by the same guy who directed Bros. So doing the movie has already benefitted his career.

Lordy you are a clueless stump R46. Do tou live in a rural town of 12?

He was on the new Hallmark movie premiering last Friday. A Magical Christmas Village starring Alison Sweeney, Luke MacFarlaner and Marlo Thomas.

R31, So was Michael Ontkean.

The problem is worse than this one film sucking.

Bros will be proof that positive gay themed films can't make money.

This was a really missed opportunity.

His career seems to ebb & flow. He doesn’t strike me as Uber-ambitious. Meanwhile, Miss. Billy—who attempts to act blasé insofar as the hunger for mogul-dom—really showed her hand.

As a gay himbro I was impressed that he could actually act. Sir Lawrence Olivier he is not, but did well with his scenes (unlike the pissy bitch he was purportedly falling in love with). The larger problem was that profoundly mechanical, formulaic script.

He'll have a fine career in gay-themed Hallmark movies, which seem nearly inevitable after this hot mess.

Luke won’t be harmed by it because he was kind of treated like he was a supporting actor.

Billy didn’t share the spotlight with him.

It’s Billy who’s in trouble.

R63, Luke continues to be cast as the straight lead in Hallmark movies, which I think is cool.

Luke is something of a rare animal, an out gay man who, while not being at all averse to gay-themed projects, still has the masculine charm and confidence to play in Hallmark fare and even in action hero parts. He was convincing in the Canadian bounty-hunters-in-space series Killjoys, which ran for 5 seasons.

Luke is like John Wesley Shipp in that he can convincingly play straight.

According to the mean girls here it would seem that there is a strict hierarchy of 10s only dating 10s. Sometimes I wish I was straight so I dint have to deal with this bullshit, no wonder so many of us die lonely.

R61 It isn't a gay film, it is queer and irritating and Billy is grotesque.

I thought he and Billy made a cute couple. Luke isn't exactly Brad Pitt, and Billy isn't exactly Bruce Vilanche. I mean, they're not THAT looks discordant.

Billy did Luke wrong during the promo for Bros. They should have been a united front but Billy couldn't resist hogging the spotlight. Luke doesn't seem bitter about it. He probably saw that Billy was going to crash and burn with his need for attention.

Luke knew that movie sucked and was at best going to be a modest hit. I’m sure he was pleased to let Eichner eat that bullet.

Both he and Billy Eichner are doing a ton of publicity together while they are in Europe promoting the film, and doing promos for Australia. Either Billy was told to calm down, he was drugged, or he learned his lesson about being obnoxious in interviews, because he isn’t like his usual annoying self. They share the interview time equally; perhaps this is to downplay Eichner. If you weren’t the wiser, you wouldn’t know Eichner wrote the film, as it isn’t mentioned. In one interview, where they talked about the three way scene, Luke admitted to partaking in a three way in real life. He mentioned a situation where a couple invited him over. Wonder how much this TMI situation might follow him. He’ll be fine. Won’t be an A-lister, but will find steady work. Hopefully Eichner disappears.

R70, When did you last see an ophthalmologist?

R71 Luke was better off Billy taking the fall. People don’t associate him with it bombing as much.

[quote]Luke is something of a rare animal, an out gay man who, while not being at all averse to gay-themed projects, still has the masculine charm and confidence to play in Hallmark fare and even in action hero parts.

He's almost unique among North American movie actors in being openly gay yet able to play straight characters convincingly. Who else is there, charmless Zachary Quinto? Maybe Cheyenne Jackson if you squint? Victor Garber, sure, but they're never going to be competing for roles.

R76 Brandon Flynn

R38 Luke has been dating former pro skier Hig Roberts for a while.

He should do OnlyFans.

R78 any receipts?

R80 Deuxmoi posted it. Hig also comments on all of his photos.

r80 How okd are you?

It's tough for Luke because he's a leading man, looks-wise, and that's always tough for openly gay actors. If he were more of a character actor, like Ben Whishaw or someone like that, he'd be fine.

That said, Luke is a pretty mediocre actor. But who knows--maybe he hasn't had the proper chance to really show his range and shine! Did he do a lot of theater when he was younger? I wonder what he was like on stage. (Not that that necessarily indicates how good of an actor he is.)

R83 Ben Whishaw is a very beautiful man. He's quite a bit waifish tho.

r84, correct on both counts.

Luke is beautiful but he’s a generic looking hunky white man. He can only ever play one type of role with those looks, and there are a million white hunks that look just like him. His career wasn’t going anywhere before this, and it’s not going anywhere after.

Ben Whishaw is a different story because he can play anything.

Hig Roberts

Let's not get too downbeat about Luke's career. He's played leading man in a sitcom, a 5-season sci-fi action and adventure show, 13 TV movies, and he's going to have a major role in this new Nick Stoller comedy series. No, his career's not blowing up like Chadwick Boseman's was prior to his untimely death, but he's not waiting tables and auditioning to play Cold Sufferer #3 in Mucinex commercials either.

Agree, R88, Luke is doing fine. And doing great compared to a majority of professional actors.

Uh oh.

Maybe Lone Star Bull will be released on DVD sometime in 2023?

Luke, put the tiki idol back where you found it!

Prior to the release of Bros, Like was looking to branch out from Hallmark. I don’t know if anyone foresaw it flopping as hard as it did.

He seems to be angling for his own show, or a supporting role on a prestige streaming show.

I hope it works out for him.

Is it really true that he and Billy fucked for real when making Bros?

[quote] Is it really true that he and Billy fucked for real when making Bros?

Yes... in Billy's mind.

You bitches are unnecessarily tough on Billy. I happen to think he's a good-looking guy (who now has a killer body!) who could pretty easily nab Luke. Some of you seem grotesquely happy that Bros underperformed at the box office, and even more grotesquely happy that Billy did not score a blockbuster film. He's an out, proud, political, and handsome gay men. What could you possibly have against him?

^ He’s cacophonous, whiny and ungracious. And while he’s clever, funny and can actually act a bit, his comedic acting often consists of braying.

R94 Mary please, with all due respect, Billy would never "nab Luke." Luke could barely tolerate him during the "joint" press they did for this terrible movie. He seems sweet and well-adjusted and is apparently with some hot professional skier. Very likable.

If you're a Billy fan - good for you. But many people disagree. He's always yelling and complaining and carrying on - comes off as very entitled and nasty. His looks are the least of it, it's the personality that's a turn off.

Billy does have a beautiful singing voice though. Who knew?

It helps that he didn't act like a total cunt after it flopped unlike SOMEONE we know.

[quote]His character would have never begged and chased after hideous BE

I don’t think the storyline was that unrealistic in the movie. Luke’s character already knew of Billy’s character from listening to his podcast. And he said he was miserable and unhappy with his life, which he thought was empty, and was open to getting to know someone with more substance. And it’s not like he was some hotshot lawyer. He did wills and estate planning and said he hated it.

[quote]Luke could barely tolerate him during the "joint" press they did for this terrible movie. He seems sweet and well-adjusted and is apparently with some hot professional skier.

I wouldn't go that far, they seemed to have a pretty genuine friendly vibe between themselves. But probably as work friends who'll drift out of contact once the PR campaign for the movie is long over, not BFFs. And Luke was emphatic enough about that "Nope!" regarding one of Billy's ideas for a sex scene that I'd imagine any sexual attraction was strictly one-sided.

The important thing is that Luke impressed Nick Stoller, which will probably be much better for his career in the long run than being friends of whatever stripe with Billy.

Well?

I've said this multiple times - he NEEDS to do a racy mature HBO drama series, where he gets naked a lot (and I mean full-frontal nudity ala Spartacus), and fucks a lot of men. THAT will jump start his dying career.

The Apple TV show discussed above came out a few weeks ago. He plays Rose Byrne's husband. Always nice to see an openly gay actor allowed to play straight roles (yeah, I know he has the Hallmark movies, but this has to be considered a step up from those).

Luke and Hig are dads now - according to his latest Insta post. Looks like he will be focusing on his new family, and less on his career, for the foreseeable future. Good for him!

Sam Smith nabbed Brandon Flynn.

r103, there's a thread about that if you're interested

[quote] The bigger issue with Bros is that his character would NEVER (and I mean NEVER) have ended up with Billy Eichner's character. That's just gay culture 101.

I have seen Luke Macfarlane level men with Billy Eichner level men (or women) but the hotter party tends to have Issues with a capital I and the less attractive person is naturally nurturing and has their shit together.