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  • 12 hours ago
Dave Franco is officially in his villain era.Stepping into the role of the Insect King in Pixar’s latest film, Hoppers, Franco joins us to discuss what it takes to bring a truly memorable villain to life, and ranks some of his personal favourite movie villains.We also chat to the 21 Jump Street actor about the films that raised him growing up, as well as iconic lines from his back catalogue that fans still shout at him in public.

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00:00It's probably a good thing we don't have human children because we probably would spoil them silly
00:05and so we get to just put a lot of that energy into our cats and so I just want
00:09them to have
00:09the greatest lives ever. That movie was so big that people recognized me on the street and they
00:15started screaming you know why don't you your pants again and I realized in that moment I was
00:19like oh I need to keep working or I'm gonna be boy for the rest of my life. I absolutely
00:25loved
00:27poppers. Amazing. I think it's already got like a solid place in the sort of Pixar legacy. That's
00:32awesome to hear. The magic of all Pixar films like they tell very human stories even if the characters
00:37are you know toys or monsters or animals or whatever. Now your character Titus the insect king
00:43he's on the more extreme scale of Pixar villains I think. Yes. How do you play that in a way
00:49that sort
00:49of makes him feel grounded so the audiences will still connect to him? You know when I first saw
00:55the drawing of what he looks like I was like oh this this is a spoiled evil diabolical little brat
01:02and I was like okay this gives me a lot of leeway to just go nuts and go really big
01:08and have a lot
01:09of fun with it and so I would tell the director I was like please reel me in if I'm
01:14going too far
01:15and more often than not he was like go crazier go bigger but there was a moment where we realized
01:21we're like okay the character is a little creepy it's he's a little scary he might scare some kids
01:26like have we gone too far and the only moment that they realized it was too far was they without
01:32giving too much away they animated a moment where my character did a like do you know from the exorcist
01:38the backwards walk down the stairs yeah they had my character doing that and they were like okay this
01:42is not only scaring the kids it's scaring the adults we gotta take that out so that was one
01:47step too far I understand you what you doing like I don't know how aware you are of the kind
01:52of pixel
01:53deep cuts what do you mean the early test animation for toy story oh Woody was like a villain you
01:59weren't thinking of flying were you well you know Andy loves toys that can fly that can't be true he
02:05was like a mean spirited sort of tyrant come on and then he became the nicest guy in the world
02:10but flawed because he's like got this like real jealousy like running through him oh he's kind
02:15of like the flawed hero interesting okay okay yes so I'm fascinated by like the sort of evolution of
02:20the of the character I don't think it changed much not a huge arc like from moment one you're like
02:26oh
02:26this is a bad dude this guy's a yes but what's great is like even bringing up toy story I
02:32think a
02:33great animated movie needs a really good genuinely creepy villain you think about sid in toy story
02:40that's a scary character and it stays with you like when you see that as a kid that character
02:44stays with you these are characters that are just so rich and evil and they really stay with you and
02:51so that that was my bar all of those characters were my bar the process of like voicing a character
02:58in an animated film I find it so fascinating compared to live action oh okay yeah and obviously
03:02you've done you've done voice work yeah yeah it's a film so like was the process for this different in
03:07any way like in terms of did you get to interact with any other actors in the booth or was
03:12it just
03:12you on your own like no clue how this is gonna it was just me it was just me they
03:16told me going
03:17into the process they were like Meryl Streep is playing your mom and I said that is incredible
03:22still haven't met Meryl to this day you haven't met Meryl no when when are you gonna meet who knows
03:28you put it out into the universe I hope it happens soon Meryl come I mean Meryl watches all of
03:32my
03:32it there we go there we go their territory ends here now let's squish the humans Hoppers is about
03:40the ability to communicate with animals you yourself are a proud cat dad um actually anointed
03:46by people's magazine last year's sexiest cat dad big honor big congratulations yes yes my whole life
03:51has been leading to that if you could ask your cats anything what is the first thing that you would
03:55ask them oh gosh um I would ask them gosh I mean we spoil them we spoil them so much
04:05and I just want
04:07to ask them like is there anything else you could ever possibly need from us because whatever it is
04:12we will give it to you whatever you need it's probably a good thing we don't have human children
04:19because we probably would spoil them silly and so we get to just put a lot of that energy into
04:24our cats
04:24and so I just want them to have the greatest lives ever yeah you just want to know like are
04:29you happy
04:29it's just like we're spending so much on your food but you need better food like whatever you want you
04:35can have it I mean I am a proud dog mom yes to a psychotic border collie okay and I
04:41just want to ask
04:42it like yeah yeah yeah yeah and what can I do to help I know there's something going on like
04:48I want to be
04:48there for you Pixar like is it gives us our favorite childhood films and it really shapes
04:54a lot of us and our sense of humor and who we are yeah what are some of your favorite
04:58childhood films
04:59so I grew up with um two older brothers who are five and seven years older than me so my
05:04youngest sibling
05:05youngest of three youngest of three me too so I was introduced to things probably way earlier than I
05:10should have so like my childhood films were like the lost boys and stand by me and the goonies I
05:16was
05:17seeing like Candyman when I was like seven years old so I think this really informed my sensibilities
05:22where I like things that are really aggressive and go for it and like push the boundaries which is why
05:29when I'm doing an animated movie I have to kind of turn off the r-rated side of my brain
05:34and I'm like
05:34okay you cannot swear in this movie um but also like I I was given a gift to be kind
05:40of like the evil
05:41over the top guy so I feel still feel like I was able to kind of put my sensibilities into
05:46this role
05:46I watched Goodfellas when I was seven years old there you go exactly I wasn't aware that a guy was
05:50gonna get stabbed there you go there you go yes I can't not ask about some of your films in
05:55your
05:56back catalog you have been in almost every single one of my favorite high school and like college
06:01movies oh that's awesome I honestly I think I quote a line from at least one of them once a
06:04week
06:04what are we talking about were we talking jump street and neighbors or what jump street neighbors but also
06:09super bad super bad oh wow that was that was one of my first roles yeah there are so many
06:16iconic
06:16lines and like there's of course such good rewatch value and they're so quotable are there any lines
06:20in it that people still shout at you to this day oh yeah I mean when I did super bad
06:25I'm only in one
06:26scene but that movie is so iconic that people remember it and so one of the lines that Jonah Hill
06:33yells at me in in super bad is why don't you go your pants again hey Greg why don't you
06:37go your pants
06:38again and so that movie was so big that people recognized me on the street and they started
06:44screaming you know why don't you your pants again and I realized in that moment I was like oh
06:48I need to keep working or I'm gonna be boy for the rest of my life
06:53do you respond in kind that was like eight years ago that's all I don't think I've
06:57like eight years ago you should I should I don't know if I've ever actually come back
07:02with that but like gosh that was just off the top of the head quick I told you it's yeah
07:08it's
07:08it's literally the way I communicate people don't forget but like that was one where because I was
07:12only in one scene in my head I was like they're probably gonna cut this out and so I actually
07:17didn't tell any of my friends that I was in the movie and then again it was so big that
07:21they all went
07:22and saw the movie they're like what are you doing I was like I don't know I'm just happy they
07:27kept me
07:28in oh my god that's incredible thank you so much this has been such a such a pleasure to talk
07:33to you
07:33appreciate you
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