South Bay native Dave Franco goes for shivers in his directing debut.
Palo Alto native finds he has a knack for getting behind camera to helm ‘The Rental’
South Bay native Dave Franco splashes a fresh coat of red paint on the horror genre with “The Rental,” the actor’s creepy directorial debut that is designed to play on timely fears and the nation’s untrusting mood.
The 35-year-old Palo Alto native is a member of the creative Franco family and and has made a name for himself with a string of standout roles in “Superbad,” “21 Jump Street,” “The Disaster Artist” (directed by and co-starring his talented if controversial brother James) and “Neighbors.” He also had an extended run on
TV’s “Scrubs” and some hysterical appearances in “Funny or Die” videos that beg to be shared and rewatched.
His directing debut marks a departure — a horror film that he co-wrote but doesn’t star in. “The Rental” doesn’t reinvent the genre with the creative ferociousness of, say, Jordan Peele’s “Us” and “Get Out,” but it does dole out the scares, the relevance and the atmospherics.
It hinges on two attractive couples on a weekend getaway to the Oregon coast where they romp, soak in a hot tub, play board games, ingest too many substances and get frisky while staying at a sprawling, isolated vacation rental. Cue the “Psycho” music.
Franco collaborated on the screenplay with indie directorwriter and actor Joe Swanberg, whom he worked with on the Netflix series “Early.” Franco says his own sense of uneasiness fueled the script.
“The idea was inspired by my own paranoia and the concept of home sharing, where the country is as divided as it’s ever been and nobody trusts each other yet we trust staying in the home of a stranger simply because of a few
positive reviews of people online,” he said while holed up during the pandemic in the Southern California home he shares with his wife and “Rental” star Alison Brie (Netflix’s “Glow”).
So Franco has deleted all home-sharing apps, right?
“In fact,” he acknowledges, “I stayed in an Airbnb while filming this movie.”
Franco says his acting filmography hardly suggests he’d pick a horror film for his directing debut. But he’s a devoted fan of the genre and some of its top filmmakers — Ari Aster, Peele, David Robert Mitchell, Amy Seimetz, Sean Durkin and more. He appreciates how their works emphasize character development and push the genre in bold directions.
“They make projects that are nuanced and atmospheric and take their time to creep up on you and then they linger long after the fact, as opposed to some genre films that rely only on jump scares and feel disposable.”
One of the questions lingering over “The Rental” is why he isn’t acting in the IFC release.
“The truth is I actually didn’t intend on directing it from the get-go,” he says. He originally set out to play Josh, the less-ambitious brother of Charlie (“Downton Abbey’s” Dan Stevens). But the role eventually went to Jeremy Allen White of “Shameless” and Franco wound up in the director’s chair. He leaned on his crew and credits them and the cast for the film’s success.
He always wanted Brie in the role of Michelle, but admits it would have been strange if he had wound up playing Josh, the brotherin-law of Brie’s character. The couple married in 2017 and enjoy working together, so much so they even wrote the first draft of a romcom during the pandemic. Franco plans to direct and Brie will star.
Although Franco has caught the directing bug, he won’t abandon acting. But he does plan on bypassing roles that demand too much on his mental and physical well-being. That policy is actually a byproduct of his playing a heroin addict in Neftlix’s 2018 release “6 Balloons,” for which he had to quickly shed 2025 pounds from his already lean 5-foot-7 frame.
“I don’t think I need to put myself through that kind of physical transformation any time soon,” he says.
While some directors might shrink from streaming their films — especially a debut — and would be aghast at a world premiere at a Southern California drive-in, Franco embraced it.
He says he and Brie had a great time at the mid-June premiere at the Vineland Drive-In in the City of Industry. A Q&A after with co-star Sheila Vand seated in her car and with Stevens and White appearing via Zoom might be a historic first for a premiere. Rather than a round of applause as as the credits rolled, the audience tooted their horns in approval.
“It wasn’t what I anticipated for the first public screening of my film but in certain ways it was better,” he says. “Most standard premieres are a little bit stuffy and they make me a little anxious in regards to the red carpet and a bunch of photographers in your face.”
“This was the opposite,” he continued. “I felt very relaxed. It felt like a communal experience where everyone has been cooped up in their homes for so long and it was just a bunch of movie lovers coming together and having this joint experience, a rare thing these days.”
So will he pop up at a drive-in showing of the film in the South Bay?
“You know I’d love to,” he said, adding he plans on a trip back to the Bay Area in the future and wants to see his mother when it’s safe.
“I love Palo Alto. I love coming home. My best friends in the world are still there. These are people I have known since I was 5. They’re all very supportive of my career, but when it comes down to it, they don’t care what I’m working on or who I’m working with. They know me quite better than anyone and they keep me grounded.”