It’s a beautiful fall day in California as I make my way towards Venice Beach to interview Dave Franco. (Yes, James’ adorable little bro — but that’s one of few times I’ll mention any other Francos. OK, Dave? Relax. You are your own person.) I am actually not as excited about this interview as I should be, probably because it’s taking place at the photographer’s house, and the photographer also happens to be my ex-boyfriend. Plus, he’s the only ex-boyfriend who’s broken up with me OVER THE PHONE — something Dave would never do.

Alexi Wasser: I have a bunch of questions. If any are inappropriate and you don’t want to answer, just say ‘pass’.
Dave Franco: [Laughs] Pass. Great.

You also have to tell me if there’s any lipstick on my teeth at any point.
Promise. You’re good, you’re good.

Now, I wasn’t gonna ask you anything about your brother, because I thought that must be completely annoying and you must get so sick of it…
Cool.

But after watching that Five More Ways video [an interview Dave did with James for Esquire] and seeing you two in those Funny or Die ‘acting lessons’… As two actors who share the same last name, how exactly are you two different?
It’s one of those things where I almost want you to ask someone who knows the both of us to tell you that, otherwise I might come off sounding like an asshole. I’ll figure it out and get back to you. But yeah, we are very different.

What’s the worst thing about being interviewed?
The worst thing is that, when there isn’t a video component to it — because I’m kind of sarcastic and have a very dry sense of humour — a lot of the stuff I say can be misconstrued when it’s in print, and I feel like I’ve gotten into some trouble for that. You know? You make a casual remark under your breath, and it makes you sound like a prick.

Well, you’re lovely. I promise I’m not out to make you look like an asshole.
Thanks.

I’m a big fan of the short film you made with Christopher Mintz-Plasse [You’re So Hot]. Did you become friends with Christopher and Jonah Hill on Superbad?
No, I only worked on Superbad for a day. I met Chris briefly, but that’s not where we became friends. We became friends on Fright Night. On set we would play a game called ‘You’re So Hot’ where you stand ten feet apart from each other and you try to make the other person crack by saying the most homoerotic thing possible, and the goal is to make the other person laugh. So, after the movie was done, we decided that that game might make a funny short.

You also did a video called Go F*ck Yourself…
Yes. That one’s interesting, because anytime someone brings it up to me, the fact that they’re bringing it up implies that they’ve literally seen me have sex with myself. So, it’s kinda hard to know how to respond [laughs]. But I guess I knew what I was getting into and… I don’t know. I guess I’m drawn to these videos that leave people…

Questioning your sexuality?
Not knowing what to feel. You know? It’s very uncomfortable. But that video is kind of sweet at points… My buddies I’ve grown up with called me out recently; they’re like, “I can’t even imagine what people who don’t know you think of you based on these videos.” I don’t know, I guess I try not to think about it. I’m just trying to make these videos that, I guess, are original, and make people at least feel something.

Has your sexuality been questioned as a result of the videos?
[Laughs] Of course! Have you seen the videos?

Well, I didn’t wanna come right out and say ‘are you gay’, but… are you gay?
[Laughs] No! I can say for the record that I am straight. But of course people are gonna wonder based on these videos, and I don’t blame them.

Was that your intention when you made them? ‘Yeah, I’m gonna make these crazy videos and fuck with everybody!’
No, that wasn’t the intention. That wasn’t the intention at all! The intention, like I said, was just to make something original, to bring something original to the table… and a little bit of a shock factor, I guess.

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!

What are you listening to on your iPod right now?
I like the new Foster the People album a lot. Always Nick Drake. I’ve been listening to some old hip hop recently — I’ve been listening to a lot of N.W.A and Nas…

Born on June 12 — you’re a Gemini. Are you single?
I am.

What’s a first date with you like?
To be honest, I don’t think I really do anything special. I don’t really try to put on a face. I figure I should just try to be myself as much as possible, and if they don’t like me on the first date, then we won’t go down this road and find out things later on that maybe someone was hiding. Um, I guess I like to keep it relatively low-key. I love sushi. I’d probably go to sushi if she’s into that.

How do you break up with a girl? We can role-play to illustrate this, if you like. I’ll be the girl. Action!
If you’re gonna break up with a girl… hmmm. Alright, so I actually joked about this earlier with someone that you may know [grins].

I’m confused. So, how do you break up with a girl? 
Well, you don’t do it over the phone!

Source: Oyster

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MTV News was lucky enough to get Franco on the phone recently to chat about the inspiration behind his big debut, the raunch factor and how having his mom be a part of the cast made for a very, very uncomfortable scene.

“I happen to have been in a phase in my life where I was playing ‘Would You Rather,’ everyone goes through those phases so I incorporated that into the short,” Franco, who wrote the film, said of where the idea came from. “The short is about these two childhood friends, a girl and an guy who play a game of ‘Would You Rather’ and their choices magically come true. There is a bit of a fantasy element to it and very quickly in typical Dave Franco fashion, things get strangely sexual and uncomfortable but there is still an overall feeling of sweetness that comes through I hope, which kind of cuts the raunchiness a little bit.”

The “Dave Franco Fashion” to which he referred to can be seen in his series of FunnyOrDie videos like “Go F—Yourself” and “You’re So Hot” which are worth a viewing if you haven’t yet seen them. Franco said that “Would You” follows in that same vein, but with the addition of his mom, respected actress Betsy Franco, to the cast he took things to a whole new level for them both.

“Once people see the short they’re going to be slightly disturbed at what I put my mom through for it, but I promise you she agreed to do this under her own will,” Franco assured us, without going into any specific detail about said scene. “Keep that in mind because it gets very very weird. We couldn’t look each other in the eyes for a few hours after the scene. But I think everyone had a good time.”

Source: MTV

During our recent chat about his upcoming SXSW debut, we asked Dave Franco for his take on the film, in which he plays teenager Perry Kelvin, a very curiously key character in the relationship between the story’s central characters R and Julie.

“To be completely honest I was a little hesitant about it at first because it was another zombie movie and there have been a lot of those recently,” Dave admitted. “The main reason I was excited about it was because of [director] Jonathan Levine. I am a huge fan of his. I loved “The Wackness” and of course “50/50,” but I knew that even though it was this genre we’ve seen over and over, I knew he’d bring his own take to it and make it interesting.”

In fact, Dave couldn’t help but gush about Jonathan’s love of filmmaking and his re-assuring directing style. “If you do a take that he really likes he’ll jump out of his chair, running at you pumping his fist telling you how amazing you are,” Dave said. “He just makes you feel so safe it’s unbelievable. He’s so smart and has great sensibilities. Anytime in the script where there could be a moment of melodrama, he allowed the actors to do their own thing and make it as grounded as possible. I know there are going to be comparisons to the “Twilight” movies and I’m not trying to sh– on them in any way, but this one will stand apart. Even though it is a zombie monster movie in a way, it is very grounded in reality.”

With regard to how his character is adapted from the book to the confines of the film, Dave revealed that the character is slightly more fleshed out. (No pun intended, though I wish I had thought to.)

“There definitely is an arc there. He starts out as this naive, sweet, wide-eyed kid who’s in love with Julie and witnesses his father turning into a zombie and dying in front of his eyes,” Dave said. “It hardens him. He becomes this kid who loses all humanity and has this one-track mind of killing off, ending the zombie apocalypse. There was a lot to play with. It was fun to do a more dramatic role.”

And like his co-star and leading lady Teresa Palmer, Dave had plenty of praise for star Nicholas Hoult’s performance as conflicted, sentient zombie R.

“Nick Hoult, it was one of these roles that could have been a huge disaster,” Dave said. “He barely talks in the movie. The only time he talks for the most part is in voice over and when he’s talking in voice over he’s very eloquent, almost poetic and when he’s actually interacting with other humans and zombies he can only kind of grunt and moan. It could have been a huge disaster, but Nick Hoult is so talented and so subtle and real that it all hinges on him and he killed it.”

Source: MTV

Summit Entertainment has moved the release date of their upcoming zombie romance Warm Bodies. Previously set for release on August 10th, the film will now arrive on February 1, 2013.

Written and directed by Jonathan Levine, Warm Bodies adapts Isaac Marion’s novel and is officially described as follows:

When a highly unusual zombie rescues a girl from imminent death at the hands of his cohorts, their unlikely romance sets in motion a chain of events that will transform him, his fellow dead and maybe even the whole lifeless world.

Source: Coming Soon

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

When you and your brother have done little skits, are those pretty clearly scripted?

FRANCO: Those are very improvised as well, but it’s easy when you’re working with family. Your natural dynamic comes out.  How do I put it?  When I think of myself, I’m definitely…  I’m not like a comedian.  I’m not one of those people who are like always joking in person.  I think those videos… I think people maybe respond to those just because you can see that it’s genuine, and it’s not necessarily super witty or clever.  It’s a real genuine back and forth going on.  You could see it’s real.  I don’t know.  Does that make sense?

We were talking about going against expectations, but when Channing’s character and Jonah’s character go back to high school, the reality turns out to be different than what they expect.  Can you talk about that a little bit?  Like Jonah, you wouldn’t expect to become in with the popular kids.

FRANCO: It goes along with the idea that my group of friends is the atypical cool group of guys.  I think the cool guys in most movies would not accept a character like Jonah, but we bring him in just because of a few things.  First, he compliments me on everything I do, and so you like people that like you.  So he builds me up.  Everything he says, he’s a yes man.  He’s done his research on me and he knows to play into the whole eco-friendly card and all that stuff.  We’re the guys that, unless you do us wrong, we have no reason to dislike you.  So Channing’s character comes in and punches my friend in the face within minutes of meeting him.  So he’s written off right away in our eyes and, like I said, Jonah’s just out to please.

Does his free-spirited attitude lead him to become a drug dealer?  Is that one of the motives behind it?

FRANCO: I was talking to the directors about that when we were first getting going and they don’t really explore it in the movie at all, except for maybe a look at one point.  But my character comes from a… maybe over-bearing parents and, like I said, you’re never going to see any of this in the movie.  It’s just subtext and background or whatever, not to be overly actor-y.  He comes from a very wealthy family, and we talked about how maybe I was neglected growing up, and this was me acting out.  Then I get way in over my head, and I never expected it to get this out of control.

What does this drug actually do?

FRANCO: There’s four phases to it.  The first one I think is called “the gigs” where you laugh uncontrollably.  The second one is you become overly confident.  That’s as much as you can explain that.  And then you go to the third one or the last one is actually called Holy Fucking Shit, where you just go crazy.   I’m missing one.

[Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller] will fill in.

FRANCO: Yeah, they’ll be much better at that than me.

Does your character go through those?

FRANCO: No, which I’m glad to say because that would be bad if I really didn’t know the script well enough even though I went through it.  So yeah, that’s why I really don’t know all of the workings cause my character doesn’t go through it.

Was there an explanation for why he sells this stuff, because it seems so uncharacteristic of the rest of his personality?

FRANCO: There really isn’t.  I mean, like I said, as much explanation as I can give is kind of coming from a difficult home.  And again, like I said earlier too, you do find out he’s a fraud and he likes the idea of this lifestyle more than he actually believes in it.

From personal experience, do you think that girls in high school go for guys like Eric, like badass, cool guys?

FRANCO: I don’t know what girls go for these days.  I feel like the whole hipster vibe is in where you… I hope this doesn’t come across as me bashing hipsters at all, because I’m almost there myself.  But you see beautiful girls with really… God, if I say this it’s going to make me sound like I’m bashing hipsters.  Yeah, I’m not going to do it.  Let’s just say, yeah I think the hipster thing is in these days.

What makes you so badass?

FRANCO: What makes me personally?  Jesus.  That’s one of the last ways I’d be able to describe myself.

Was there any ever question as to whether you guys could pull off playing your age range, or did you have to undergone like a physical transformation, or did you change something about yourself so you could look more the part?

FRANCO: I wish I could say that I did, but no, I’m 25 looking 18.  To be honest, I got to the point where preferably I would not play high school age anymore.  Not to be pretentious, but I would love to play characters that are closer to my age.  But at the same time, I’m not complaining.  Work is work.  And then with something like this, though, I didn’t mind at all.  It’s such a great script, and I’ll play 12 years old in this if they want me to.  Everyone always says it’s probably very beneficial to look young for your age, especially in this business.  But it’s like, “God damn it, I just want tos look 25 sometimes.”