00:00We couldn't leave each other's side.
00:01We were going to the bathroom together, and...
00:03Yeah, as you do.
00:04Or just standing pressed naked against each other.
00:08Right.
00:09It was all very vulnerable.
00:10We got a lot of interesting positions.
00:12A chilling new take on horror is coming to your screens.
00:15I can't explain it, but we're sick.
00:17Burn me!
00:19It's so hot today!
00:21Together from Neon stars real-life couple,
00:24Alison Brie and Dave Franco.
00:26In a film where staying close might just tear you apart.
00:29Literally.
00:30This film takes relationship goals to a horrifying new level.
00:35What were your reactions when you read the script?
00:38We were blown away.
00:39The set pieces alone are just so innovative
00:43and like nothing we'd ever seen before.
00:46And also very ambitious where we were like,
00:48how are we going to pull this off with a very low budget?
00:51I feel like the most exciting type of risk-taking on film
00:55where we were going to get to do a bunch of things
00:57that we had never done before
00:59that maybe no one's ever done before.
01:00But we knew we had each other going into it.
01:03So that was like a nice safety blanket.
01:09Yeah.
01:09Safety blanket, the right word?
01:10Yeah.
01:11Yeah.
01:11The film marks the feature debut of writer-director Michael Shanks,
01:15who explores the terrifying intimacy of long-term love.
01:18I realized I've never been an adult without my partner in my life.
01:21And same with her.
01:22So when we started living together,
01:25I was just really thinking about the fact that,
01:28God, we like literally have all the same friends.
01:30We listen to the same music, watch the same films,
01:33eat the same food, breathe the same air.
01:34Like, I don't know where I end and you begin.
01:36Like, I don't know if I'm a complete person without you.
01:38And that was sort of scary to kind of confront.
01:40And that was sort of the area of a relationship that I really wanted to kind of focus in on.
01:46In the film, Maria and Franco portray a couple so emotionally entangled that their bodies begin to fuse together.
01:52Like, oh, you're already, like, sharing a life with somebody.
01:55What if you were so intertwined that literally your flesh started to even kind of intertwine with your other person?
02:01Uh, I think there are some relationships where people have been together for so long,
02:05uh, breaking up can feel like literally cutting part of your own body off.
02:10And for the actors, the experience was as intimate as it was surreal.
02:14It was as weird as you can imagine,
02:16where we were literally attached to each other with a prosthetic for 10 hours some days.
02:21Uh, we couldn't leave each other's side.
02:23We were going to the bathroom together and, uh...
02:25Yeah, as you do.
02:26Or, or just standing pressed naked against each other.
02:30Right.
02:31Uh, it was all very vulnerable.
02:32That was a lot of interesting positions.
02:34Uh, really put ourselves out on a limb on this one.
02:37Yeah.
02:37Despite the grotesque visuals and relentless pace,
02:40Shanks tells THR that the film was shot in just 21 days.
02:44But the work ethic from Franco and Brie kept the production grounded.
02:48It was so down to earth.
02:49They were just so, so, so normal and collaborative.
02:53And they just like are in it for the passion of, of the, of the craft.
02:56Seriously.
02:57We had crew members that have been working in the industry for like 40 years,
03:00coming up to me after day one or day two and saying like,
03:03these guys are the best bloody actors we've ever worked with.
03:05And I thought, oh, that's, that's a good endorsement from like a guy who just like carries lights around all day.
03:11And after portraying a couple who became physically inseparable,
03:14Brie and Franco say the experience only made them stronger.
03:17It's one of these things that it's very annoying to be like, no, it was all great.
03:20Like, I wish I had a tidbit to be like, ooh, we hated each other that day.
03:24But like, it was very smooth.
03:25We really enjoy working together for many reasons.
03:28Like she's one of the best actresses working today.
03:31I truly believe that.
03:32And so she makes my job very easy in that sense.
03:34And then also we have each other to lean on just for emotional support,
03:38which is also very important in this business.
03:42Dave is incredible on set.
03:44I admire him and everything he does.
03:46He pushes me as an actor and as a performer.
03:48I just feel like we motivate each other.
03:50Together is out now in theaters.
03:52This is The Hollywood Reporter News.
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