In 21 Jump Street, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill play two young cops who go undercover at a high school.  When they attended school together several years ago, Tatum was a popular jock, and Hill was more of a nerd.  But the second time around, the cool kids accept Hill into their group and reject Tatum.  This happens because Dave Franco, playing one of the popular kids who sells drugs, is not your typical movie cool guy.  Instead he’s more eco-friendly and anti-sports.

A group of us movie bloggers had the chance to interview Franco on set in New Orleans near the end of the shoot.  He talked about the backstory for his atypical character, the comedic benefits of improv, and how it feels to still be playing high schoolers when he’s 25.  He also defined what it means to be “Eskimo bros” for the innocent among us.  Read what he had to say after the jump.

Question: Talk about being one of the cool kids in this movie, and then the fact that these are atypical cool kids as least for what we would think of in a movie.

DAVE FRANCO: Yeah, so.  Should I describe my character first?  Okay, so I play Eric.  Obviously, Jonah and Channing, they’re undercover cops infiltrating this high school to stop the spread of a new drug called HFS, Holy Fucking Shit, and I play the main drug dealer at school.  It’s been fun because, like you said, it’s a very atypical cool kid because rather than being the jock or the big man on campus, he’s kind of like this eco-friendly hipster.  Everything he does is very environmental-conscious, but at the same time he’s selling the least organic drug of all time.  So it’s this weird dynamic going on and you slowly find out that he’s totally full of shit.  But it’s been fun not playing the straight asshole which I keep getting cast as.  I’m not sure how to take it anymore, so.

What about the element of sort of open relationship in high school?  What is your take on that?

FRANCO: I was actually trying to think back to when I was in high school and how much that actually went down, and I think it’s a little more true to life where everyone’s kind of hooking up with everyone.  I think between friends even sometimes, they encourage each other to hook up with the same girls.  They think it’s cool and it bonds them.  I know everyone’s throwing around a term of “Eskimo Bros” these days.

What’s that?  I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that term.

FRANCO: To put it lightly, it’s when you both have ejaculated inside the same person.  That’s off the record.  I’m not one of these people.  Just for the record, I’m personally not one of those people who condone that.  But, yeah, I think it’s more true to life.  It goes along with who the character is—being free and open, and just down for whatever.  I think there’s a line saying how everyone should be free to do what they want and who they want.

Do you have the same form for improv jokes?

FRANCO: What do you mean?

Channing and Jonah were talking about how they have a lot of room to make stuff up.

FRANCO: Yeah.  Definitely.  Each scene goes completely haywire for the most part.  At first, it was very intimidating because you’re working with… Not to be dramatic, but you’re working with some of the biggest people in comedy, some of the best improvisers out there.  It is very intimidating at first, but then you realize when you’re working with these people who are like at the top of their game, they make you a lot funnier than you normally would be, and when you make a mistake, they turn your mistake into gold.  If I end up being at all funny in this movie, I give total credit to all the other actors because they’re a lot funnier than I am.

Source: Collider

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Oyster #97 hit newsstands last week sporting a cover story on Pan Am star and former child actress Christina Ricci (with accompanying cover shoot styled by Oyster’s Contributing Editor, Stevie Dance, and shot by Gregory Harris in New York). Also in the issue? Photographer and Oyster pal Nabil Elderkin photographs Erykah Badu at her home in Texas, Tom Ford talks about “doing things his own way”, actress Lake Bell chats about making out with James Spader and Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne reveals his secrets to success. The issue’s most riveting interchange however, occurs between blogger Alexi Wasser and James Franco’s little brother Dave Franco – a preview of which you can read below. Spolier: shit gets super awkward.

Who do you play on 21 Jump Street? Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum play two undercover cops who infiltrate this high school to stop the spread of…

AIDS?Yes, exactly. Um, no.

Go on. Sorry. They’re trying to stop the spread of this new drug called HFS, and I play the drug dealer — who happens to be very eco-friendly, despite selling the most inorganic drug ever made…

Is this supposed to be based on some real drug that actually exists? Like, Adderall, or MDMA, or… No, it’s completely made-up.

Tell me things girls are gonna wanna masturbate to… Jesus Christ!

Is Johnny Depp really in the movie? Or is that all just a sham? [Laughs] It’s all a hoax! No, he was there — for just one day.

I knew it! Just like you in Superbad! He was a great sport! When people see the movie and see what the directors put him through… He had a great time. He stayed much longer than he needed to and he seemed like he was having a great time. He was having fun.

Tell me about your other brother — you know, the one that nobody cares about. Tom Franco is the coolest one!

Oyster #97 is out now.
http://oystermag.com/

Source: Pedestrian.tv

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