Over the past few years, Dave Franco has shown he’s a lot more than just James Franco’s brother with great work in films like 21 Jump Street, Now You See Me, and Neighbors. And now in director Ken Scott’s (Delivery Man) Unfinished Business, Franco shows he can hold his own with Vince Vaughn and Tom Wilkinson. As you probably know from the trailers, the film stars Vaughn as a man who starts his own small business after being fired, only to find himself up against his old boss (Sienna Miller) during a business trip to Europe. Franco and Wilkinson work for Vaughn, and the pic also stars James Marsden, and Nick Frost.
Last week I landed an exclusive interview with Dave Franco. He talked about getting to work with the great cast, what it was like filming in Berlin, what the last few years have been like for him, if he’s going to be involved with the Neighbors sequel, the Now You See Me sequel (which is called Now You See Me: The Second Act), working with his brother on Zeroville, and a lot more.
Collider: How much fun did you have making this movie?
DAVE FRANCO: We had a great time. We filmed the majority of it in Berlin, which is now one of my favorite cities in the world. It’s just weird and artsy and progressive, and it feels like anything goes and there’s no judgment. It’s one of the few places that I’ve visited that I could actually live.
I’ve been to Berlin a few times, and I also have the same opinion. It’s a huge, amazing, off the wall, “holy shit” city.
FRANCO: Yeah! What I love is that they really encourage the arts, as opposed to many places around the world where the arts are kind of frowned upon, where people think you can’t really make it. They kind of set up the city in a way where artists can live cheaply and artists really encourage each other and help each other. It’s just a good vibe.
Not to put myself in this, but there are parts of East Berlin that I went to years ago that reminded me of downtown Los Angeles that had no money, no anything, buildings being covered by graffiti artists, and just amazing stuff. Now there’s a lot of money in the city so a lot of those areas are being pushed even further outside.
FRANCO: Right, exactly. It does seem like one of those cities that literally changes every single year.
You got to work with Tom Wilkinson, who is a very serious, great actor. How much fun was it getting him to break on camera?
FRANCO: [Laughs] I love Tom Wilkinson. I was so excited when I first heard that he was coming on board. Just because, like you said, he’s a two-time academy award nominee, and in this film he’s taking bong hits, he’s participating in pillow fights with naked women, and he’s involved in bondage situations. So I think people are going to be excited to see a different side of Tom Wilkinson. What I love about him is that because he’s such a great actor, he’s able to take moments in the film that could have otherwise been very broad, and he is able to ground them and make it feel very real. He’s just a pro, and he’s genuinely very funny and very dry. I could spend every day with that guy.
I think that the people that understand movies, who have seen his work and see him do crazy shit, are going to laugh for a completely different reason than other people.
FRANCO: Absolutely, absolutely.