The Franchise imagines life behind the scenes of a Marvel-style blockbuster, painting the process in a hilariously chaotic light. The series stars Billy Magnussen, Aya Cash, Himesh Patel, Daniel Brühl, and more as creatives doing their best to put together a franchise epic with their sanity intact. An egotistical director, apathetic actors, and a first assistant director doing his best to hold it all together are only the tip of the iceberg in this new parody.
Screen Rant interviewed Jon Brown and James Bond director Sam Mendes about their work bringing the world of The Franchise to life. The filmmakers revealed how the idea came to be and discussed how accurate the series is to their own experiences. They also shared insights as to why they chose to focus on the characters they did and shared their hopes for how the series will resonate with audiences.
Then, as you dig deeper into them—specifically franchise films—and what they say about cinema and popular culture, it felt like there was a territory there that no one had really spoken about. I love workplace comedy and sitcom, and it felt like this is a very particular type of workplace that I think, honestly, is pretty universal—the experience of being stuck in it, covering for your boss, dealing with egos, or whatever that is.
In terms of green screen and blue screen, I didn't do so much of that, but my brief experience was short and painful. I found it incredibly difficult, time consuming, and also absurd, because you spend so much time describing what it's going to be, showing previews about what it's going to be, or showing art department designs about what it's going to be.
Jon Brown: When we meet him, we feel that he's developed a kind of armor and that he's able to detach himself. There's a moment in the second episode where Dag says, “Surely if they're doing something that's wrong, we should say something,” and his thing is, “But we don't have an opinion, Dag. That's not what we do.” What the episode does is takes him from that point and then breaks him open, and he reveals that he really does care about these things.
Mendes On If Franchise Will Resonate With Everyone, Regardless Of Industry Experience “I Hope It Plays To Both Ends Of The Spectrum” You can see that the job has taken its toll on him, but he still has that glimmer of hope, which is absolutely needed. Now, Sam, in what ways do you think The Franchise will resonate with both movie insiders and the general audience?