INTERVIEW: ‘Warm Bodies’ star Dave Franco talks zombies, romance, and “being the asshole.”

written by DeAdele IV.II

Zombie romance Warm Bodies is currently the #1 film at the box office, taking in more than $20 million during its opening weekend. Prior to the film’s release, we had the opportunity to catch an early screening followed by a Q&A with director Jonathan Levine and star Dave Franco. The next day, we were lucky enough to sit down for a chat with Franco about his role in the film.

[Editor’s Note: some of this material is taken from the audience Q&A sessions, with the rest being pulled from our interview. Beware of mild spoilers.]

How did you get involved with Warm Bodies?

When I first heard about it, I wasn’t terribly excited, because it was a movie about zombies and we’ve seen a ton of those recently. But then I heard that Jonathan Levine was attached, and I knew that he was going to bring something different to it.

You die in a lot of movies. What’s up with that?

Great question. I keep getting cast as “the asshole.” The more I think about it, the more it makes me upset. One person told me I have “the face of an asshole.” [laughs] It’s not like I choose roles where I’m like “I’ve gotta die in a new way in this movie.” But at least you get to see a softer side of me in this, right?

We got to see your brains at one point.

There you go. Getting intimate.

‘Warm Bodies’ heats up weekend box office with $20 million

written by DeAdele IV.II

CBS News is reporting that “Warm Bodies” topped the weekend box office with a solid $20 million on its opening weekend. I had confidence in the success of the film, but, to be honest, I didn’t expect for it to be this big of a hit. Looks like congratulations are in order for Dave, Nicholas, Teresa, Analeigh and the entire cast and crew of ‘Warm Bodies’.

The love-struck zombies of “Warm Bodies” swarmed the box office on Super Bowl weekend with a $20 million opening, while “Bullet to the Head,” Sylvester Stallone’s new action flick, bombed.

On a weekend that Hollywood largely yields to football, the PG-13 film from Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment easily led the box office, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Super Bowl always means a significant slide in movie-going on Sunday – studios predict a decrease of as much as 70 percent from Saturday to Sunday – but “Warm Bodies” still lured many teenage fans.

The film is about a zombie whose love for a human redeems him. Lionsgate, which also released the “Twilight” saga, is calling it a “rom-zom-com” for its mix of humor, romance and the supernatural. The film appealed particularly to females, who made up 60 percent of the audience.

“They’ve definitely cracked the code on how to attract that teen audience with films like ‘The Hunger Games,’ ‘Twilight’ and something like ‘Warm Bodies,’ which definitely plays right into the sweet spot of that demographic,” says Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

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February 04 Dave Press Warm Bodies