What’s better than one new Hallmark movie? How about three! The Groomsmen Trilogy is about to be your fall fixation, with three installations coming this October.
The Groomsmen Trilogy, staring Tyler Hynes, Jonathan Bennett and B.J. Britt, takes viewers on the journey of a lifetime as three best friends come together to celebrate their wedding days in the breathtaking destinations of Greece, Italy and Bulgaria. Each film in the trilogy tells a story of love and friendship from a man’s perspective. The trilogy is also set to make history, featuring Hallmark’s first lead gay wedding.
To talk about the film, Hynes, Bennett, and Britt joined GLAAD’s Anthony Allen Ramos.
Jonathan Bennett, who starred in the GLAAD Media Award nominated Hallmark films The Holiday Sitter and Christmas on Cherry Lane, also serves as an executive producer on the film. He shares that, “The Groomsmen came about because I got married two years ago and I had groomsmen in my wedding. Before that, I was a groomsman in three or four of my other best friends wedding and that they happen to be straight guys. So, I thought there was a really interesting story there of, what’s this real life story that happens in real life where gay men and straight men are best friends and they’re in each other’s weddings?” He thought to himself, “What’s that fun story to be told?”
He goes on to say, “When you take something that’s real and turn it into a movie, that’s when you get gold. And that’s what we did with The Groomsmen. It’s just a real story of three best friends in 2024. One of them happens to be gay. The others happen to be straight. It ends up showing all these different sides of these friendships and all these vulnerabilities with each other.”
Britt shares his hopes for audiences who see the film, “I just hope that they see real experiences, with real stakes.” He hopes that fans can watch and say “Oh, that reminds me of me!” or “Oh, my God, that’s so you!”
He continues by saying, “I just hope they enjoy every moment of it as much as we did filming this.”
The three stars have grown incredibly close in filming this trilogy. Hynes, who also serves as an executive producer, reminisces on his favorite memories while shooting. He tells the story of when they were onsite in Greece and Jonathan had to film a scene where he jumped off a cliff into the water and invited a group of tourists to be in the scene. He shares, “that was a peak moment for me.”
It’s clear that the stars are as close off screen as they are on screen, Bennett shares that Britt is “the most sensitive boy. He is so sensitive, so sweet, so endearing.” Britt goes on to share that, “These stories are real stories with real people and real circumstances. It’s almost as if you’re living through these characters.”
“There’s a scene where it got really emotional for me.” He continues, “There’s a scene where I’m leaving these two and it felt so real and so genuine and it was just a huge cry fest for me.”
Bennett reflects, “We had to stop production because B.J. tapped into such an emotional part of his person that he opened the floodgates and it was a beautiful thing to see and he just had to let it all out.” He goes on to say, “That’s when it was like, ‘Oh, these stories are real.’ Because he was identifying with that character so much. So that means that when people watch it, they will identify the same way. And that’s what makes it gold.”
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The first installation of The Groomsmen Trilogy premieres Thursday, October 17th, only on Hallmark+. Learn more here.