In the latest All Access Pass, Billy Kidd talked with actor Dave Franco about his upcoming film ‘Unfinished Business’. In the interview they also talked about working with Vince Vaughn and Tom Wilkenson, how improv is handled in the framework of a movie, Dave’s portrayal antagonists, and working with his brother James.
In the interview Dave talked about his upcoming role as Mike Pancake in ‘Unfinished Business’. “The character is everything that you would expect from a name like that. He’s a little slow, but he’s also extremely sweet and naive and loyal and would kill for his friends,” Dave said. “It was nice to play a pure protagonist for once as opposed to some of the douche-ier roles I’ve played as of late.”
Vince Vaughn and Tom Wilkenson also star in ‘Unfinished Business’, and Dave spoke about working with them. “Vince is someone that I’ve looked up too for a long time. So to be able to work with him on a comedy. It was an invaluable experience,” Dave said.
“It was really special just being in these scenes with him, but also some what intimidating,” He added. “He’s such a smart funny guy that he really does elevate everyone around him.”
Dave then spoke about Tom Wilkenson, “Tom is just an absolute pro. He’s a tow time Academy Award nominee, but we get to see a different side of Tom in this movie.”A comedy like ‘Unfinished Business’ has quite a bit of improvisation to it, and Dave spoke on how improve is handled in the framework of a film like this. “Typically you want to have the freedom to do whatever you want, but you do want it to be somewhat constrained.” Dave said.
Adding, “You want every improvisation to at leas serve the story or the characters in some way.”
With acting credits like ’21 Jump Street’ and ‘Neighbors’, Dave has played several antagonists in his career. “It was fun to play that type of role at first, because it’s kind of liberating to play a role that’s completely outside of yourself,” Dave said. “I feel like Iv’e completely exhausted that role. There is nothing else I can bring to it that’s new. So I’ve been trying to make a conscious decision to branch out.”Towards the end of the interview Billy asked about Dave’s brother James Franco, and whether the two we’re planning on working together. “He just directed me in something… It’s called ‘Zeroville’ and like I said he directed it. It was really fun working with him in that capacity, because he’s the most happy when he’s behind the camera,” Dave said.
“I would love to keep working with him,” He continued. “That being said the past five years or so, I really did make a conscious decision to distance myself from him work wise. Just because I wanted to pave my own path.”
Dave on All Access Pass with Billy Kidd (Audio)
written by Jenny III.III