Actor James Franco has had a long career in film as an actor, director, writer, and producer. And while he's become a jack of all trades, he's not the only famous Franco on screen. Dave Franco burst onto the scene with appearances in Scrubs and 21 Jump Street, before starring in a steady stream of big screen projects. This includes the acclaimed Tommy Wiseau movie The Disaster Artist, where he worked alongside his brother James and names like Seth Rogen. Dave Franco is making his directorial debut with thriller The Rental, and he recently revealed how working with industry greats shaped his work on the horror movie.
Prior to The Disaster Artist, Dave Franco also had a cameo in Superbad, so he's worked with Seth Rogen a variety of times throughout his career. The Disaster Artist is also notable for Dave and James Franco playing opposite each other as Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau respectively. Dave recently appeared on ReelBlend ahead of the release of The Rental, which he also wrote and produced. And when asked about what he's learned from his previous experience, Franco opened up saying:
Thinking about The Disaster Artist specifically. I mean with my brother and Seth Rogen and his crew, what I took from that film and what I’ll do forever is they really set a comfortable environment on set. Where they encourage every single person to voice their opinion if they feel it’ll help the film in any way. So essentially there’s no egos. And the rule is the best idea wins no matter who it's coming from. So I definitely brought that over to The Rental.
That's certainly one way to make your cast and crew feel valuable. Because it looks like Dave Franco makes it a point to let everyone in the room have a say, if they feel it's to the benefit of the film. And as a result projects like The Rental benefit from the expertise and perspective of the collective mind. It truly takes a village.
Every director works differently, and Dave Franco was in a unique position while filming The Rental. He wore a ton of hats for the upcoming thriller, and therefore likely benefitted from the help of his crew. Directing yourself is difficult enough, but Franco also served as a producer and writer. Talk about making a directorial debut.
In Dave Franco's same conversation on Reelblend, he went on to explain how curious he'd always been on film sets. Because while filming appearances in projects like Now You See Me and If Beale Street Could Talk, the actor would also be taking in the contributions of everyone else on set. As he went on to explain,
I’ve always been the type of actor who has been curious about every step of the process And I can't help myself. I want to talk to the DP, and the writer, and the production designer. And just hear about their process and why they’re making certain decisions. And I try not to be annoying about it, I try not to overstep my bounds. But I have been cherry picking from all these people I’ve worked with knowing I wanted to do this someday.
Dave Franco has been working in film for years now, and it seems like the experience was about more than acting and delivering on his specific role. Each movie provided more learning experiences, as Franco formed the idea of how he'd like to run his own set. And with The Rental, he was finally able to use the tools he'd picked up along the way.
The Rental is a horror movie about a group of friends who rent an Airbnb. While dealing with their interpersonal issues, the group soon begins to suspect the landlord of spying on them. Chaos follows, with Alison Brie and Dave Franco leading the cast. The movie is currently sitting on a 71% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, with particular praise coming for the cast.
The Rental is available to rent on demand and on Amazon. Be sure to check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
