Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. My SXSW was fairly interview-centric this year, which means I didn’t get to see as many movies as I would have liked to, but I also got some good stuff.
21 Jump Street had a huge regional premiere screening that blew the roof off of the Paramount theater. Since they had damn near everybody from the cast here the powers that be decided it’d be a good idea to do a publicity blitz.
Capone got to chat with everybody in Chicago, so I thought that was one less interview I would be responsible for, but I soon found out that one actor slipped through Capone’s hairy fingers and at the last minute I was able to work a chat with Mr. Dave Franco into my schedule.
21 Jump Street did well this weekend and rightfully so. How they took one of the worst-sounding remake concepts of all time and made it one of the funniest movies in recent memory is a testament to the script by Michael Bacall, the direction of Phil Lord and Chris Miller and the cast they assembled.
Franco is a great addition to the cast. The genes in his family must be incredibly strong and not just because the dude looks and sounds just like his brother. He also seems to have his brother’s natural charm and ease in front of a camera.
So, I sat down with Mr. Franco within minutes of completing my awesome AICN Legends interview with Paul Williams, so that’s why we start the conversation where we do. I told Franco that I just wrapped up an interview with Paul Williams and he responded that would be a tough act to follow. The rest unfolds from there. Be warned there are some spoilers below if you haven’t gotten a chance to catch the movie yet. Enjoy!
Quint: I was going to say, so you’ve written something along the lines of RAINBOW CONNECTION, right? Something that can beat that?
Dave Franco: Well I don’t know if you have seen my short film here with my mother watching me masturbate, so yes. (Laughs)
Quint: So pretty close? No, I haven’t, but let’s talk a little but more about that.
Dave Franco: Yeah, we could. I work with some of my close friends that I’ve known since middle school on these videos for the website FUNNY OR DIE and so we decided to make something a little more substantial, something that felt more like a short film than a skit in hopes of trying to get it into some of these film festivals, so we were pumped to find out it got in here and it’s about these two old friends playing a game of “Would you rather” and the twist is that whatever option they chose ends up magically coming true and so it gets sexual and weird.
Quint: That’s good, because every group of friends plays those games.
Dave Franco: Exactly.
Quint: I have a friend that says he wishes he could win the lottery just because he plays the “How much money would it take for you to do this?”
Dave Franco: Totally and then actually imagining a fantasy scenario where that comes true is where we take our video.
Quint: It sounds good, so what’s the title of the short?
Dave Franco: It’s called WOULD YOU?
Quint: Okay, cool. Well congratulations on the film.
Dave Franco: Thanks, man.
Quint: I love it when a movie can surprise people and even though it shares virtually noting in common with PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, it has some of that same effect where people completely wrote it off until they started seeing it and it’s like “Holy shit. This is actually funny.”
Dave Franco: I think it’s one of these things, like you said, where people almost went in expecting to hate it maybe based on the fact that a lot of these old TV shows that have been adapted to screen have mainly failed and especially something like this, where you see that the old TV show is just an hour drama and then you see these previews for this thing that seems like this really silly comedy and people are like “This is a giant disaster,” but then you see it and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s self-aware. It makes fun of itself when it needs to and it’s hilarious. I mean down to each supporting character even down to Chris Parnell as just like a tiny part and Jake Johnson and Ellie Kemper, they really accounted for every single opportunity.
Quint: And Nick Offerman. That’s the scene I think that really sets the tone.
Dave Franco: Completely.
Quint: He essentially says what every cynical asshole like me sitting in the crowd is thinking. He goes “Yeah, we just rehash all of this 80’s stupid shit,” but he does it in such a funny way that it doesn’t feel like he’s embarrassed about it. Michael Bacall I’m a big fan of. I think it’s very smart. It’s silly. There’s a lot of silly, stupid shit… the dick humor, the fart humor, stuff that I’m an easy target for anyway, but it’s smart.
Dave Franco: Exactly and I give obviously Jonah [Hill] a ton of credit, but also the directors who come from animation. I don’t know if you’ve talked to them, but they are just these really intelligent guys with amazing sensibilities and any time this script could have veered into melodrama or like any kind of clichés, they went the other way somehow.
Quint: And it’s fun!
Dave Franco: It is, right?
Quint: They didn’t forget the fun stuff, but it’s also textured and that’s something that I’m really impressed, especially with your character. If it was the show, it would have been a very one-note character and I think that sometimes when comedies try to subvert an expectation they do it only on like a base level. I think almost anybody else would have taken the idea of “Why is the unpopular kid now popular and the jock unpopular?”
Dave Franco: Completely, man.
Quint: But when you look at how the whole dynamic of high school is changing in the film… it is kind of true. We are in the era of the geek. I would have been a lot more popular in school now than I was there. I’m totally in Jonah’s position. But what they do with your character… You’re not really a villain, but you’re also not really a good guy… You make him very likeable too.
Dave Franco: I appreciate that. Thank you. I give the writers a lot of credit for bringing a new take on this cool kid in school. I feel like he’s a three dimensional asshole and you kind of get to see why he is the way he is and ultimately he’s just this vulnerable kid who is in over his head and it was more fun to play that than just the typical fuckin’ jock cool guy in school.
Quint: We’ve come a long way since REVENGE OF THE NERDS.
Dave Franco: There you go. Exactly!
Quint: Where the cool kid is the environmentally sensitive one. (Laughs)
Dave Franco: Cool. I’m glad you think so.
Quint: So can you talk a little bit about the character relationships? Again it’s so smart. Take your romance with Brie Larson, for example. It’s such an easy love triangle to pit you, Jonah and Brie against each other, but it’s totally not that kind of scenario. You’re not really attached to her! At every possible moment it seems like the writing of this movie is “Okay, here’s that… Oh no, no it’s not.” Developing that and developing the relationship with Brie and developing the friendship that comes out between you and Jonah, it’s like all of this kind of builds at the same time. It’s such a unique thing.
Dave Franco: Exactly and I want to say it’s more realistic to how things really are where these kids, when they are hooking up with someone it’s not like they are exclusive in high school, you know? But going off who this character is of being this kind of free spirit, eco-friendly, green conscious guy, I think I even have a line where I say something like “You should be free to do what you want and who you want.” It’s just I like Jonah’s character and obviously I have this connection with Brie’s character, but it’s like “Ah, they should be with each other, too. We should all love each other.” So I love it and I love that it’s a different take on it and it somehow works where none of it feels contrived, I don’t think.
Quint: But at the same time when the betrayal moment happens it seems like him being so open with that makes it doubly hurtful.
Dave Franco: Completely. What was tough about that is that we filmed that penthouse scene… That was the first week of filming.
Quint: So you started at the top of the mountain and went down?
Dave Franco: Exactly, so it was like “Alright, how big do we play this?” It was like “We haven’t shot all of the stuff leading up to it, so we don’t know how this builds exactly” and so we were like “Are we doing this over the top? Does this feel real? Who knows?” So of course my first day I was doing the most emotional scene I have in the movie and Johnny Depp is on set and so there are all of these elements involved, but I was shocked at how that scene really did fit seamlessly into the movie I think.
Quint: Yeah, well it did and by the way I was totally fooled… My same friend that would be a miserable friend to have if he won the lottery, he loves to figure out movies. I’m the opposite. Like when I’m watching the movie, I like the movie to be the movie and then I like to figure it out afterwards.
Dave Franco: I don’t even like watching trailers anymore.
Quint: And thank god he leaned over to his wife and not me, but he was just like “Oh, that’s Johnny Depp!” in that first moment, but it caught me completely by surprise.
Dave Franco: Exactly and I think it’s fun for everyone to see what we kind of put Johnny Depp through for this one. I think it’s unexpected to actually see him allowing himself to be silly and making fun of himself that much.
Quint: And it’s a secret that’s been pretty well kept.
Dave Franco: Sure.
Quint: The whole vibe just feels fun and I have to imagine looking at the Apatow movies or even going back to Mel Brooks’ movies and stuff like that, I just have to imagine that the fun that people have on set shows up on the film. I know that feels almost like an “E!” question, but it does feel to me that there has to be a degree of that that translates unless I’m completely mistaken and it was like working with William Friedkin and you were getting abused every day or something.
Dave Franco: (laughs) We definitely all got along off set, which I think was important for this one, because of the fact that there’s so much improvisation you want to feel comfortable with these people, because a lot of the times when you try something it’s not going to work and you don’t want to feel self-conscious and have that stop you from venturing out and really putting yourself out there. I guess what I can say is, definitely for me, it was intimidating at first working with people like Rob [Riggle] and Jonah who are at the top of their game in terms of improvising. What I quickly realized is that when I made a mistake or said something just mundane and not funny, they would turn that into gold and they would make me look a lot funnier than I am.
Quint: So, it was like a safety net?
Dave Franco: Completely. So, once we all got to know each other and felt comfortable it was like “All right, let’s just have fun with this, because they are going to pick me up when I fall.”
Quint: Another great surprise of the movie for me is Channing [Tatum].
Dave Franco: Right?
Quint: He’s been on the cusp of finding that role and for me this is the first time where I’ve seen him just let loose and he’s so good in this movie. He is so funny.
Dave Franco: He is awesome, isn’t he? I don’t know if you’ve met him, but he’s… First off, I’ll say he’s the greatest guy in the world, like the most morally sound individual out there, but he’s also really silly and I’m actually shocked that he hasn’t gone after a role like this before, because it’s perfect for him and allows him to be free and out of his head and just have fun with it. I’m pumped for the guy. He’s about to get a million comedy offers after this.
Quint: He’s going to explode. It won’t just be the sad melodramas coming his way.
Dave Franco: Like I said, he couldn’t be a better guy and I’m so happy for him.
Quint: So what are you up to now?
Dave Franco: So I completed a movie after JUMP STREET called WARM BODIES. I worked with Jonathon Levine.
Quint: Levine, yeah I know him a little bit.
Dave Franco: Yeah. He’s the greatest, isn’t he?
Quint: Yeah, yeah.
Dave Franco: He’s one of these guys who… he’s like a little kid on set and when you do a take that he likes, he will literally jump out of his chair pumping his fist at you and you are just like “All right, cool. Yeah, let’s move on.” So he just makes you feel safe.
Quint: Who are you playing in it? I read the book.
Dave Franco: Oh, you did?
Quint: Yeah.
Dave Franco: I play “Perry” who is the boyfriend of the girl and “R,” the main zombie, eats my brains and you see my whole story play out in flashbacks.
Quint: Yeah, because on the surface it seems like it would be like “Oh, that’s not a significant role,” but that is the real emotional hook of the story.
Dave Franco: Exactly. I hope so. And it was a more dramatic role than I’ve had a chance to play. It’s this kid who starts out this naïve wide eyed guy who is just in love with his girlfriend and then he sees his dad change into a zombie and then get killed in front of his eyes and he becomes hardened and his only goal is to end this zombie apocalypse…
Quint: Well and to protect her. At least in the book, that seemed to divide them a little bit.
Dave Franco: Exactly, that’s what happens. Yeah, exactly. Just working with someone like Jonathon was awesome. Right now I’m actually back in New Orleans, that’s where we filmed JUMP STREET, I’m back in New Orleans filming a movie called NOW YOU SEE Me about a group of magicians who use their abilities to pull off these bank heists.
Quint: Michael Caine is in that, right? Have you worked with him?
Dave Franco: Yeah, just this past week.
Quint: I’m a huge fan… I don’t know if you’ve seen it, it’s a more obscure movie that he did…
Dave Franco: Which one?
Quint: It’s called GAMBIT.
Dave Franco: I haven’t, no.
Quint: I think it might have just left Netflix Instant, but if it did you can find it on DVD. It’s one of those “Burn on Demand” things. It’s his first American movie. The Coens wrote a remake of it, but I got a chance to talk to him a few years back and I just blubbered all over GAMBIT. It should be a classic in the same way that A SHOT IN THE DARK is.
Dave Franco: Why do you think it didn’t catch on?
Quint: I really honestly couldn’t tell you. I have no idea, because Shirley MacLaine was at the height of her fame, Caine had just done ALFIE, and it was his first American thing, but ALFIE was a huge American success, too. I don’t know why it didn’t work.
Dave Franco: Was he happy to talk about it with you?
Quint: Oh he loves that movie. I mean it’s Michael Caine… I’m sure you’ve had a chance to hear him hold court.
Dave Franco: Exactly. He’s just a jolly, happy guy.
Quint: I could talk to that dude for 18 days straight.
Dave Franco: The whole cast is unbelievable and it’s one of these things where I tell my friends about it and they are just like “How the hell did you sneak into that?” I’m just like “I don’t know man, I’m just keeping my mouth shut.”
It’s been awesome. It’s like a big action movie and I’ve never done anything like that and so I did this fight sequence that lasted maybe two weeks where we were literally kicking the shit out of each other. It was the most real fight I’ve ever been in in my whole life and granted I’m not like a big guy going out there any picking fights, but my whole body is like hamburger meat, but it’s so fun. It’s like when you’re in it, you kind of think to yourself “Why would I do these kind of depressing dramas where I’m crying all the time when I could be flipping over tables and jumping down trash chutes, you know?” It’s been awesome. It really has.
Quint: Or selling drugs to kids.
Dave Franco: Sure. (Laughs)
Quint: It’s just practice in case the movie thing doesn’t work out.
Dave Franco: (Laughs) Totally.
Quint: Cool. Thank you so much.
Dave Franco: Thank you, man.
Quint: I really appreciate you taking the time.
Got a slew of SXSW interviews to wrap up in the coming days, so stay tuned!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
