The younger Franco's latest Funny or Die video pits him against the 7-foot L.A. Clippers center. And a formidable dancer named Elke the Stallion.
Every six months or so, actor Dave Franco releases a new comedy short on Funny or Die that manages to tickle and titillate in equal measure. His latest, Real Life H-O-R-S-E, costarring Los Angeles Clippers star center DeAndre Jordan, dials down the raunch a notch or two but still manages to feature an impressively curvy booty-shaking dancer and something called the "penis competition."
So we had to ring up the actor — who costars in the zombie rom-com Warm Bodies and will appear in the magician heist thriller Now You See Me on June 7 — to get the inside scoop on how the video came together.
BuzzFeed: So had you been playing pick-up games with DeAndre Jordan and decided to make it into a short?
Dave Franco: That came about really nicely, actually. I had written the script, and we were looking for an NBA star that has enough of a sense of humor to make fun of themselves, and who would be willing to give us two full shooting days, which is tough, because these guys' schedules are insane. So I was talking to Funny or Die about which NBA star would you go after, and they mentioned that DeAndre had wanted to do a video. It just so happens that one of my roommates from college is one of DeAndre's agents. So it just worked out perfectly.
Then I went on YouTube, and DeAndre has a series of videos on YouTube where he's pranking people on the Venice pier. He has a fart machine, and he's walking around lifting his leg up and literally farting on people, and he's this 7-foot dude, so no one is really getting too mad at him. It just showed me that he is a funny guy and doesn't take himself too seriously.
BF: You pretty much found the perfect guy.
DF: He was perfect. And then on top of that, we shot this video at the very beginning of the NBA season, and everyone had high expectations for the Clippers, but I don't think anyone expected them to be doing as well as they are doing. That obviously helps in terms of DeAndre's visibility at this point. He's having an incredible season; the Clippers are one of the top teams in the league. It all came together pretty perfectly.
BF: So is Jordan's favorite Ryan Reynolds flick really Definitely, Maybe?
DF: (laughs) I can't say yes or no for sure. I would assume not. I wrote that line for him. He begrudgingly performed it. But I cannot say for sure either way.
BF: Who is the woman who so patiently let both of you play with her posterior?
DF: She is known on Craigslist as "Elke the Stallion." She honestly was the best sport ever. Going into it, she had told us that she didn't want us to rip her jumpsuit, and we said, yes, of course, we're going to do everything we can to oblige. And she did not want us to spill any milk on her. And of course, we completely tore apart her jumpsuit — on accident — and doused her in milk — on accident. But she ran with the punches. Honestly, I can't thank that woman enough.
BF: She did hold remarkably still for that house of cards.
DF: It's one of these things where we would do a take, and everyone watching the monitor would start cracking up. She had no idea it was going on, because it was all happening on her ass. I bet she assumed when she finished filming that this would never see the light of day.
BF: Did she know who either you or DeAndre Jordan were?
DF: I can guarantee she did not know who I was. We shot my dance scene first, because DeAndre was at practice. And then when he showed up halfway into the scene, she did make a comment about wanting to change into a different jumpsuit because she wanted to freshen up for DeAndre.
BF: My only real question about the next competition in the video — the penis competition — is did you guys actually check?
DF: (laughs) Uh, no, we did not. I was wearing tiny little flesh-color briefs that I hiked down as low as I could go without making things too weird for the crew. But no — it does appear that we are fully nude, but we both are wearing briefs that are very low on our hips.
BF: So as far as you know, you could have won.
DF: Absolutely not. I mean, let's be honest here. The guy's 7 feet tall. I'm barely pushing 5'8" (laughs). But I like your enthusiasm and your optimism. I appreciate it.
BF: Well, I always try to be optimistic. Now, that tattoo on your chest — is that real?
DF: I wish. Maybe one day. They created a very realistic fake tattoo of my real-life cat Arturo.
BF: Finally, did DeAndre really jump over your head like that?
DF: Yeah. That was always written in the script. We wanted the video to end with an NBA star actually leaping over me. Again, DeAndre was the perfect choice because he is abnormally tall and extremely athletic. A lot of big men in the league can't jump that high. On the day, I asked him, "You think you can really jump over me?" And he casually said, "Yeah." I said, "You sure?" "Uh-huh!" "All right, just position me where you want." So he put me in the right place, and we probably did 10 takes of him jumping over me, and he literally did not graze a hair on my body on any of the takes.
BF: Wow.
DF: Yeah, he's a beast.
BF: How does one go on in life now that that's happened?
DF: I mean, I've peaked. Everything from here on is downhill, right?