Dave Franco, Alison Brie and director Michael Shanks discuss their film 'Together' while stopping by THR's studio at Park City. Plus, they talk about finding the right film to act in together and Franco's comparisons to Luigi Mangione.
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00:00Has anyone approached you to play Luigi, to play hot Luigi?
00:05Anyone? Do you mean everyone?
00:07I've never received more texts in my life about anything.
00:11Yeah, but I don't think there's been any official offers.
00:15No official...
00:16It's just friends being like, hey, you look like this guy.
00:18It's just friends. Anyone who has my phone number has reached out about it.
00:23They're like, where were you that?
00:25A little bit.
00:30Do you want to tell us where this idea came from,
00:34and how these two fit into what that idea was from the beginning?
00:40Like, what you envisioned.
00:42Yeah, absolutely.
00:43The idea came from the fact that I've been in a relationship since I was 18.
00:46A long-term relationship, a very loving, wonderful relationship with this beautiful woman here.
00:51And, you know, there becomes a certain point in your relationship where you kind of realize,
00:56like, oh, I'm kind of in this forever, potentially.
00:59And you realize that you've spent maybe more of your life with this person than you have without.
01:03I mean, I've never been an adult without this person in my life.
01:06So you begin to wonder, like, I'm not really sure who I am without her, and maybe vice versa.
01:11I'm not sure where I end and where she begins at this point.
01:13Our lives have become so enmeshed.
01:15And that was sort of the jumping-off point for this story.
01:18And these two fit into it.
01:20I mean, similarly to the couple in our film that have been together for over a decade.
01:24You know, a lot of people come to us to act in things together.
01:28And we don't want to overexpose ourselves to the point where people hate seeing us together.
01:33So we're very picky about what we decide to do.
01:36And this one, because the characters have been together for so long,
01:40we actually felt that our relationship would lend itself very well to this specific movie.
01:45Yes, and I do feel like we could relate to the themes of intimacy.
01:50In terms of what Shanks is talking about, couples who are together for a long time,
01:53you're breathing the same air, you're eating the same food.
01:56Like, I feel like we, I mean, I know we have a joke language in which we speak to one another.
02:02And those are the good sides of intimacy.
02:06What are the bad sides?
02:08Well, what does it look like when you lose your individuality, you know, when it goes too far?
02:12What are the bad sides for us, though?
02:14I'll tell you later.
02:17There can be a darker edge to it if you feel like you're losing your independence completely,
02:21you're losing your identity.
02:23I think that could be kind of scary.
02:25Or if someone who's not ready to fully commit, you know,
02:28this movie is dealing with, like, fear of intimacy and also unhealthy codependency,
02:34like a true fear of being without this other person,
02:37even if they're not the right person for you.
02:40You know, you see relationships around this.
02:41Sometimes you wonder if people, their lives are so enmeshed,
02:44you wonder if they're still together because they love each other or if they're used to each other.
02:48And the sort of high stakes of when your lives are so intertwined socially, familially,
02:53what happens if that separates?
02:55Do you lose half of your entire existence?
02:57What is everyone's, like, personal appetite for gore, horror, squeamishness levels, et cetera?
03:03It's high.
03:04Yeah, got it.
03:05But she, we went through a journey with her where when we first met, she was not into it.
03:10Look, in high school, I loved horror movies and I would watch them all the time.
03:14And I liked feeling really afraid.
03:17And then as, like, an adult woman living alone, I didn't as much like being afraid.
03:23But there were phases where then we got to a point where it was like, I would, I watch everything.
03:28And I was like, oh, this was actually worth you being scared.
03:31Yes.
03:32She was like, tell me, is the artistry worth the scare?
03:35And that became how we judge it.
03:36But now I just get as excited when.
03:38Now we're at a point where she's writing horror.
03:42You're like, I got it.
03:43Was there, was there any one day that was like more intense than the others?
03:47Like.
03:48I think that this shoot was, it ebbed and flowed.
03:50I mean, there's a lot of high energy set piece moments in this movie.
03:55So for Dave and I as performers, I feel like every other day or like.
03:59Every single day.
04:00There was something.
04:01If it was physical or emotional, there was always some weird peak.
04:05And then like there would be one day in the shoot where we'd be like, it's a dinner scene where we're hanging out.
04:10And I was like, wow.
04:11But then right at the end of the bit.
04:13Oh, and don't forget.
04:14We have to pick up this shot at the end of the day where something crazy.
04:16But most days, you know, we would, we would get there at 6 a.m.
04:20And from the very first cake, our energy had to be at a hundred and it had to stay there for the whole day.
04:26And so you wake up certain mornings.
04:28You're just like, I don't know how I'm going to do this.
04:30But then you get into it.
04:31And like, it was just so fun.
04:33And we were just so excited about what we were making.
04:35It felt like we were getting away with something.
04:37And so that just like keeps you going.
04:39And there's something great about not having time to overthink any of it.
04:43And like us being so prepped and the three of us was so being on the same page.
04:48But it is funny to get to set and sort of be like, OK, are we ready to go?
04:51Great.
04:54And that was every day.
04:56You're super kind of every single day.
04:58One of you is just going.
05:00At a certain point.
05:01And the very final day of shooting, I did a little bit of body double work for you.
05:04That's right.
05:05And I experienced 20 minutes of having to do that.
05:07And I relish the squirt.
05:10The movie.
05:11Yeah.
05:12That maybe put in perspective like, oh, these guys are great.
05:15But up to that point, I was like, what are these guys doing?
05:18Complain, complain, complain.
05:20What is a movie that you watched that made you want to be in this business?
05:26I got a couple.
05:27So I when I was 14, I was working at this mom and pop video store.
05:31And it was actually legal for me to be working at that age.
05:34And so they paid me by allowing me to take home as many movies as I wanted.
05:37And it was the year 1999, which is like regarded as the best movie year of all time.
05:42And so like it was this is my film school.
05:45And so the movies that I remember that like really blew my mind were Fight Club and Being John Malkovich.
05:51Those are the two that were like, oh, you can get fucking sorry.
05:54You could get really weird and experimental.
05:57And it's just I don't know.
05:58It's really exciting.
06:00Yeah.
06:01Good one.
06:02Have you ever met been able to meet any of the people in those movies since then?
06:07I'm trying to do it.
06:08I mean, those are two of my favorite directors.
06:11But John Malkovich is here.
06:15I met I met Joe Malkovich.
06:17I was in Warm Bodies with John Malkovich.
06:20I die very early.
06:23You don't remember that?
06:24I'm in about six minutes of that movie.
06:28Gosh, so many.
06:30I don't know.
06:31I think about like Raising Arizona and Reservoir Dogs and like Aliens, Sigourney Weaver.
06:39I feel like there were all these women in the 90s like Sigourney Weaver and Annette Bening, obviously the American president.
06:45One of your favorite movies, Silence of the Lambs.
06:48Another amazing movie.
06:49Silence of the Lambs.
06:50I love.
06:51Yeah.
06:52Working Girl.
06:53Like there were a lot.
06:54I didn't realize it at the time that I was like watching all these powerhouse actresses,
06:58Frances McDormand, like Holly Hunter do these performances.
07:01And that certainly had a big hand in it.
07:03But also Scream.
07:06Oh, yeah.
07:07I love the Scream franchise.
07:08When I was in high school, we were so obsessed with the first Scream.
07:10My friends and I made our own film called Yell.
07:15It was not as good, but a close second, I think.
07:20I was born in 1991 and I was living in New Zealand when I was a wee lad and the Lord of the Rings movies were coming out.
07:26And that was hugely inspiring because the whole nation just united around this one significant cultural event.
07:31Like that was making international headlines suddenly happening in the country.
07:35But like what was great is when they came out on DVD, they had all these special features.
07:40And that was really what got me excited of realizing that films are made by people and people are making models and people are building costumes and that sort of thing.
07:47And that was sort of what made me realize like, oh, if I just got a camera and kind of made some costumes, make some miniatures, I could maybe like sort of make something.
07:54So I think like the behind the scenes boon of the like Millennium.
07:58DVD extras.
08:00Again, Not a Great Storm, Attack of the Clones, special features.
08:03Fantastic stuff there.
08:05That really inspired me.
08:06That was IFC on TV.
08:09They would play movies with like people doing the commentary track on IFC on TV.
08:16So I would watch a movie like Sid and Nancy with the with that commentary track.
08:21I was obsessed with that kind of stuff.
08:23And it was so interesting.
08:24It was like your dog.
08:25It's your son, the director here.
08:27And then I thought I could just make miniatures.
08:29I was like and then I thought I could talk about my own movie after I make my movie.
08:36And then I was like, oh, yeah.
08:37I can do that.
08:38I can do that.
08:39I can do that.
08:40I can do that.
08:41I can do that.
08:42I can do that.
08:43I can do that.
08:44I can do that.
08:45I can do that.
08:46I can do that.
08:47I can do that.
08:48I can do that.
08:49I can do that.
08:50I can do that.
08:51I can do that.
08:52I can do that.
08:53I can do that.
08:54I can do that.
08:55I can do that.
08:56I can do that.
08:57I can do that.
08:58I can do that.
08:59I can do that.
09:00I can do that.
09:01I can do that.
09:02I can do that.
09:03I can do that.
09:04I can do that.