Interview: Dave Franco, Co-star of Now You See Me

Last year, while watching 21 Jump Street, I was impressed by the handsome, charismatic young actor playing the eco-minded high-school drug dealer, and scribbled in my notes, “It looks like this kid stole James Franco’s DNA.”

Of course, by the end of the movie, I’d realized how true that was: The actor was in fact Dave Franco, Jame’s younger brother.

In the year since, Franco the Younger has continued to appear in higher-profile roles, including this winter’s Warm Bodies, and can currently be seen starring alongside Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Melanie Laurent, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Ilsa Fisher in the magic/heist movie Now You See Me, directed by Louis Leterrier (Clash of the Titans).

Playing one of four stage magicians who pull off unbelievable Robin-Hood-like robberies during their performances, Franco may be lesser-known member of the cast, but he’s been grabbing a lot of the critical praise.

But perhaps more than his increasingly larger film roles, Dave Franco may be best known for his risque, outrageous short comedy films on the website Funny or Die, where he’s usually involved in some sort of one-upsmanship dual that escalates wildly into absurdity, most infamously with his and Chris Mintz-Plasse’s amazingly filthy-mouthed “You’re So Hot” contests.

I sat down in Chicago last week with the unbelievably charming and likable 27-year-old actor to talk about making bigger films like Now You See Me, about the smaller films he hopes himself to direct some day, and how his grandmother reacts to his Funny or Die videos.

Now You See Me is currently playing in theaters everywhere.

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Production-wise, this is probably the biggest film you’ve been in, right?

Dave Franco: I think the moment I realized how big it actually was when we were on Bourbon Street in New Orleans during the first weekend of Mardi Gras.

We had this giant crane in the middle of Bourbon Street and had Mark Ruffalo standing on top of a cop car while people were pelting him with beads. It was half extras and half drunken Mardi Gras vacationers throwing beads at Ruffalo. I looked around and thought, “Okay, this is more than just a little movie.”

We filmed in New Orleans, Vegas, New York, and Paris. Then you have the cast, and the stunts and the camera work. In terms of my personal experience, look at my fight sequence with Ruffalo. From Day One, any free time we had, we were thrown into training and stunt rehearsal.

But I had a lot of fun – I’ve played sports my whole life, so to be able to use some of the skills in acting was a dream. And I could walk away from the fight and say I kicked The Hulk’s ass. It took about two weeks to film, and it was carefully choreographed, but you also want it to feel real. Mark was a wrestler growing up, so we both did our own stunts—I did about 95% of my stuff.

When you’re playing a magician doing “magic” in a film, do you have to work a little harder to “sell” the idea of the trick, since the audience knows some of it will be special effects?

Franco: The four of us really worked hard at learning some of these tricks, so as much as possible we could have “real magic” in the movie, as opposed to using CGI. We had about a week of magic rehearsal and then worked on our tricks throughout filming.

You didn’t do a “ride along” with street magicians, like you do with police when you’re making a cop movie?

Franco: [Laughs] We did our research and saw a lot of magic shows. One thing I took away from that research process, was that I was trying to pinpoint what makes the best magicians better than the second-best. All the guys regarded as the best are obviously all very technically sound, but the ones who are running away with it as better than the rest are the ones who have the personality as well, who are just genuinely likable people you can relate to, who you can root for. It’s more than just pulling a rabbit out of the hat.

Did you find similarities between actors and magicians?

Franco: Magicians definitely have a different mindset, but there’s a lot of crossover. Their whole set is an act, but again, the guys who really pull it off, the best ones are where it doesn’t feel like an act. They interact with the crowd and play off it.

With this, and Warm Bodies, and 21 Jump Street last year, it feels like your film career is right at the take-off point. What’s your master plan, Dave Franco?

Franco: The overall plan is to just work with talented people, especially talented directors, regardless of how big or small the role is. I just want to be around these guys I admire, because I do want to make my own films one day. I just want to absorb anything I can and apply that to my own projects in the future. For example, I would rather be an extra in a Paul Thomas Anderson movie than the lead in some big National Lampoon movie.

I’m just trying to be smart about the projects I chose. It’s tough sometimes—you get anxious when you’ve been sitting around too long. You want to work, and sometimes you take jobs for the wrong reasons, not because you love the project, but because you’re bored.

When I do jump onto a project, there are always risks, but I at least it want it to be something where there is a likelihood it will succeed. But you take something from everything you’re on, even if it’s a giant dud.

Then to avoid the boredom and getting anxious, I work on my own projects and feed my creativity. I’m happy to work on my own stuff with some of my best friends I grew up with. Right now that’s primarily the Funny or Die stuff. All the people over there have been so great to me over the years. At this point they tell me to go off, go do my thing, and they’ll help pay for production costs. I’m working with some of my best friends, and we have full creative control. It’s a dream.

But we’re slowly taking bigger steps. A lot of those videos on Funny or Die are two to three minute sketches. Then about a year ago we did a video that was more of a short film, with a narrative and character arcs. The goal is to one day make features.

Funny or Die seems like such a great space for envelope-pushing film comedy ideas.

Franco: Everyone has a camera these days, and there’s no reason why everyone shouldn’t be going out shooting their own films.

Worse-case scenario, no one watches it, who cares? Best case, it becomes viral, and you get your face out there. You created the content and it’s a good representation of who you are, and you can say whatever the hell you want.

So what happens when your older relatives or your mom’s friends see some of the really raunchy stuff you do on Funny or Die?

Franco: My mom is so cool—she’s in one of these videos doing something very vile. So she’s one of the first people I send the videos to—she’s a good sport, very supportive. But then there’s my grandma, who’s also really cool and hip, but when I’m telling Chris Mintz-Plasse how much I want to have sex with him, Grandma doesn’t quite grasp why I would do a video like that.

But when people approach me and bring up the video “Go F**k Yourself,” it’s hard to know how to reply, because I know they’ve seen me literally have sex with myself. That’s an awkward scenario. You have to not care a little—obviously I wouldn’t be doing these things if I was so concerned about what people think. But the videos are very far out there. But I think that’s why people respond to that, because they are different. And even if they’re not for everyone—which they aren’t–the people that do respond to them gravitate toward them because it’s something they haven’t seen before.

These days with the Internet and niche cable programming, it seems easier for an actor like yourself to be both very, very subversive and cutting-edge in one place, and then turn around and do big, mainstream films.

Franco: I started doing these videos before most people knew me from movies. On the flip side, you take someone like Selena Gomez, who’s known in films and TV as this sweet Disney girl. She couldn’t be in one of my videos because she has this huge fan base she built. But for me, I built my fan base–whatever small fan base I have–with these videos, so wherever I go from here is going to be more PG than what I’m doing on the Internet.

Jack Nicholson can be seen in public snorting coke with hookers. Tom Hanks cannot.

Franco: It’s interesting, when I release a new Funny or Die video these days, people know to brace themselves and expect something different and shocking and twisted. It’s tough on me, because I want to keep topping myself because I know the expectations are higher.

Does it always have to be “more” in terms of the raunchiness?

Franco: Take for example the video “Real Life H.O.R.S.E” with NBA star DeAndre Jordan. Because of who he is, we had to tone down all the raunchiness and the swearing—he has little kids who follow him and look up to him. I think it worked really well. That might be my favorite one because we had to find the humor in a different way. We couldn’t just be raunchy and crazy and over the top.

So far on the big screen, you usually play the charming cad. What do you feel audiences have not seen from you yet?

Franco: I feel like they haven’t seen who I really am. I haven’t played myself yet. I’d say my role in Now You See Me is the closest to who I am, but it’s still not me. He’s not as cocky as my other characters—he’s kind of the underdog, a little wide-eyed, wants to do his best. I’d say those qualities are more in line with who I am than my other characters, but still not me.

I’d done primarily comedies up to this point, so I don’t feel like I’ve been able to really show what I can do on the dramatic side of things. I would love to do a smaller, character-driven film and really spread my wings.

As a director, I assume we’re not going to see a 90-min Funny or Die film.

Franco: You’re So Hot: The Movie. [Laughs] I like the idea of directing a giant movie like Now You See Me, but I just don’t have that type of mentality. I gravitate more toward smaller movies. The movies I envision myself directing, in terms of tone, would be like The Duplass Brothers’ films, where it feels very naturalistic and real and improvised. Smaller stories that are simple, but you care about the characters, and it’s all about the characters. Those are the movies I want to direct.