IDIOTS: DAVE FRANCO AND THE CAST BREAK DOWN THAT EXPLOSIVE SCENE
Dave Franco, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Mason Thames, and Kiernan Shipka star in Idiots, a new comedy that’s got it all: a stellar cast, a deliciously villainous performance, and what Franco himself calls a “top three ‘shit yourself’ scene in cinematic history.”
The film, written and directed by Macon Blair (known for The Toxic Avenger and I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore), follows two unqualified individuals (Franco and Jackson) tasked with transporting a troubled teen (Thames) to rehab. What starts as a simple job quickly spirals into chaotic mayhem.
In an exclusive roundtable interview, Blair and the cast discussed the film’s highlights, challenges of bringing this ambitious story to life on a limited budget, and, of course, that scene.
Why Did the Filmmakers Change the Movie’s Title?
One of the biggest hurdles was choosing a title. Originally titled The Shitheads, Blair explains that it wasn’t external pressure that led to the change.
Macon Blair (Writer/Director): “In my heart, I still call it The Shitheads. But it is Idiots. We never had any pressure to change it. We just started doing the math of the challenges of promoting the movie. Knowing it’s a small movie and coming out in the summertime, we could have shot ourselves in the foot. Dave, Alex [Orr], and I brainstormed a bunch of stuff. Dave came up with Idiots, and we were like, ‘It rolls off the tongue, it’s clean.’ And we don’t have to think about it getting squashed on social media or video on demand.”
Dave Franco on That “Most Explosive” Scene
The film unfolds through a series of intense vignettes during a road trip. At one point, Mark (Franco) and Davis (Jackson) stop at a motel with Sheridan (Thames), who then invites Irina (Shipka) to their room. Sheridan proceeds to taint Mark’s drugs, leading to a wild, chaotic scene that climaxes unexpectedly.
Mason Thames (Sheridan): “Yes, Dave, tell us how you pooped yourself.”
Kiernan Shipka (Irina): “Mason and I were in the other room drinking Diet Cokes with our phones out. We were just like, ‘Oh my God!'”
Dave Franco (Mark): “I don’t want to build it up too much, but I do think it’s a top three ‘shit yourself’ scenes in cinematic history.”
Thames: “It’s just so aggressive, man! It broke the camera.”
O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Davis): “It’s violent. It’s violent.”
Franco: “What’s great about it is that all the humor in this movie, even that moment, is a bunch of really fun character stuff leading to these punctuation moments. This isn’t a movie where it’s a bunch of one-line jokes. It’s all grounded in these really bizarre characters, and we’re playing it as real as possible, letting the humor come from that. But then yes, you have these ‘explosive humor’ moments that people will definitely be talking about.”
Thames: “I just remember Kieran’s face when she first saw it. We were all just sitting there watching. It was so funny.”
Shipka: “It was an unbelievable cinematic feat.”
Thames: “That was one of the best experiences of my life.”
Franco: “I called my wife, Alison Brie, after that day and I was like, ‘Honey, how was work? I think I just did the craziest thing I’ve ever done on camera.’ Which is saying a lot because I play a lot of fucking crazy characters. But this character was a gift.”
Mason Thames and Kiernan Shipka on That Jaw-Dropping Bite Scene
Immediately after Franco’s explosive scene, Shipka and Thames deliver another shocking moment: Sheridan bites Irina, revealing himself to be not just a spoiled teen but an outright psychopath.
Blair: “I didn’t want [the cast] to think about it as if they were in a different kind of movie because then it would be all fractured. I was really interested in the idea that we could have a silly, sophomoric, dumb comedy, but within that would be this molecule of something that was much darker.”
Shipka: “Reading [that scene], I felt like it was part of this whole kind of introduction to [Irina]. She does this dance, the explosion happens. It’s sort of one thing feeding into the next. And you read through and go, ‘Oh God, he bites her.'”
Thames: “There’s the switch.”
Shipka: “I did not feel the level of bone-chilling sinister until I was in the room. I think that’s a testament to the way that Mason is playing that character, because it really does shift quickly from this is just a bad day for this girl, to ‘Oh, no. Something’s wrong.'”
Thames: “It was so fast, but we were just so ready for it. For how crazy of a scene it was, it was a really cool memory. I think that was my first day I got to be evil.”
Shipka: “Yeah. It’s so haunting.”
Jackson: “You went from weirdo to threat.”
Mason Thames on Playing Villains
Thames, known for The Black Phone and the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, says he relished playing a different type of character.
Thames: “Yeah, I think he’s pretty misunderstood.”
Franco: “Interesting. Expound on that.”
Thames: “This guy has a lot going on and is a very complicated character. Macon and I talked a good bit. I just wanted to serve his vision for who we saw Sheridan to be. And getting to work it out with him and kind of put together this puzzle of a kid was so fun and so nice, and a really cool experience. Also, just playing a villain was really fun.”
IGN: “Do you want to play more psychopaths and villains moving forward?”
Thames: “100%. This was so much fun. He’s pretty crazy, but I want to go further.”
How O’Shea Jackson Jr. Cried Real Tears
Beyond the humor and violence, Idiots also features more grounded storylines. In the opening scene, Jackson has an emotional moment opposite Killer Mike where Davis loses his job. It was a challenging scene for Jackson, who drew from personal experiences.
Jackson: “Every tear I have in the movie is from a real place. I’ve gone through losses in my family. I’m a parent now, and I worry about everything all the time. So, I took the time to talk to myself before going on camera. I like to keep the energy light and keep the jokes going, but having to put myself in a corner for a second to get there was new for me. And the things that I have to do in this film are also new for me to share on camera.”
“To get there the first day and meet Killer Mike is wild. I love Killer Mike. I don’s want him to see me cry, but all I need is for Macon to tell me we got it one time. And [I got] the single tear with the light coming through the church window. I was like, ‘Oh, I’m in my bag right now.'”
Making a Big Movie on a Small Budget
For the cast, making a smaller movie presented challenges but also made it rewarding.
Shipka: “I think everybody truly wants to be there. We’re all here because we love this material and want to be part of this story. And I think that can happen at any scale, but when making a movie like this, there’s a real authenticity to everyone on set.”
Franco: “There is something about the limitations of a smaller movie that sometimes helps you raise your game. But I remember at the end of certain days, we just didn’t have much time left, but we needed to get some big important scene. And we were like, ‘All right, can we do this in one take?’ It’s like, ‘Hey, we know our lines. We got this.’ And then you just make it happen.”
Thames: “I had to do the laugh when my mouth was all bloody? My voice was totally gone by that point. I don’t remember what we’ve been shooting before, but my voice was gone. I couldn’t laugh, and it physically hurt so bad. But I just used it.”
Franco: “It gave it this really creepy quality the whole time.”
Jackson: “As a performer, I never want to hold up camera, especially on a smaller film. You don’t want to cost more money than what you have to. And I don’s like keeping the crew waiting.”
Franco: “Knowing that we’re coming in with only a few takes, it makes you come in prepared. You have to be ready for anything. And so we’re all very locked in.”
Shipka: “It’s athletic.”
Jackson: “There’s 3 seconds left on the shot clock. It’s just like, you gotta shoot.”
Idiots premieres in theaters August 28.
Source: IGN
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