{"id":32837,"date":"2025-07-29T22:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T22:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/32837\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T22:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T22:21:10","slug":"alison-brie-and-dave-franco-on-body-horror-and-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/32837\/","title":{"rendered":"Alison Brie and Dave Franco on body horror and ‘Together’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In writer\/director Michael Shanks<\/a>\u2018 \u201cTogether<\/a>,\u201d Alison Brie<\/a> and Dave Franco<\/a> play Millie and Tim, a couple who are tested by a supernatural encounter that severely tests their relationship \u2014 and their bodies \u2014 via some terrifying transformations. It\u2019s a fascinating meditation on codependency given an extra bit of frisson by the fact that Brie and Franco are married; the movie plays like their \u201cEyes Wide Shut<\/a>\u201d as another haunting study of a romance under pressure acted out by a real-life couple.<\/p>\n

It also has a strong element of body horror reminiscent of David Cronenberg, a director both Brie and Franco consider a favorite. In fact, long before they ever read the \u201cTogether<\/a>\u201d script, they took a deep dive into Cronenberg\u2019s work during the pandemic. \u201cDuring COVID we would choose directors and just go down that path,\u201d Franco told IndieWire of his and Brie\u2019s nightly movie viewing. <\/p>\n

\"'My<\/a> \"'Beau<\/a> <\/p>\n

Brie added that although she\u2019s always been a film<\/a> lover, Franco\u2019s influence has made her more appreciative of the horror genre. \u201cI feel like Dave is my film school when it comes to offbeat independent films that I haven\u2019t heard of, and a lot of horror movies,\u201d she told IndieWire. \u201cI\u2019d watch a horror movie every night if I could,\u201d Franco added.<\/p>\n

Though Brie considers \u201cDead Ringers\u201d to be her favorite Cronenberg movie \u2014 and possibly her favorite body horror movie, period \u2014 she and Franco saw \u201cTogether\u201d being a film in the tradition of the film Cronenberg made right before \u201cDead Ringers,\u201d his 1986 remake of \u201cThe Fly.\u201d \u201c\u2018The Fly\u2019 is one of the best movies ever,\u201d Franco said. \u201cI\u2019m not saying we\u2019re anywhere near that, but like that movie this is body horror with a romance at its core.\u201d <\/p>\n

Although Brie and Franco immediately recognized the potential \u201cTogether\u201d had for Cronenbergian body horror, when they read the script they had no idea how Shanks planned to execute the complicated set pieces he had written. \u201cWe were so drawn to it because of how unique and bold it was, but at the same time we were like, \u2018How is he going to pull this off?,\u2019\u201d Franco said.<\/p>\n

\"TOGETHER,\u2018Together\u2019Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

After Shanks showed Brie and Franco his short film \u201cRebooted\u201d and explained his visual effects background they started to feel more relaxed, but not too relaxed \u2014 that would have been an impossibility given the 21-day schedule during which the filmmakers had to realize their ambitious vision. \u201cEvery single day there were either heavy prosthetics or crazy action sequences,\u201d Franco said. \u201cWe were sprinting.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Brie, the fast pace had the paradoxical effect of improving the performances, as everyone operated on pure instinct and fully committed at each moment. \u201cI\u2019ve never felt more free than I did on this movie,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was no time to overthink. There was no time to be precious about performance. And the script was so fun and we trusted each other so much that we were able to truly throw ourselves into every take.\u201d<\/p>\n

The short schedule also gave Brie and Franco the inspiration to throw themselves into the more physically demanding aspects of the roles. \u201cWe could not have sustained that level for a three-month shoot,\u201d Brie said, with Franco adding, \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have survived! But because it was such a short schedule it gave us this mentality of, let\u2019s go for it every day, even if we\u2019re going to get a little bit injured and it\u2019s going to be insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Together\u2018Together\u2019Neon<\/p>\n

Brie noted that \u201cTogether\u201d is essentially a monster movie where the monster lives in the characters\u2019 own bodies, meaning she and Franco were constantly slamming themselves around on set and coming home bruised and battered. \u201cWe\u2019re the kind of actors where that\u2019s our favorite part of it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very \u2018put me in, coach\u2019 kind of energy.\u201d \u201cWe were just so excited with the footage we were getting,\u201d Franco added. \u201cThat gave us the momentum and fuel to get over the physical injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brie and Franco also found that being a married couple made the shoot far easier than it would have been with other scene partners. \u201c\u200aThere turned out to be endless benefits, even more so than we realized,\u201d Brie said. \u201cI felt like so much of the work on the history of this couple was already done just by our history and knowing that we have a base of love between us. Even when the couple is in distress, we knew that baseline would exist for them, and that was really helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200a\u201dAnd this is a very simple thing, but the fact that we were living together meant we could rehearse as much as we wanted,\u201d Franco said. \u201cWe could come to set every day and hit the ground running, knowing we have just one or two takes.\u201d \u201cWe could discuss any performance things the night before,\u201d Brie said, \u201cand we had a great shorthand together that just saved a lot of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

In spite of the physical and emotional challenges of the material, Brie and Franco said there was no downside to playing a dysfunctional couple on screen. \u201cI wish we could give you something, but the very annoying answer is that it really was pretty joyful,\u201d Franco said. \u201c\u200aWe did go into the whole process thinking, okay, this is a really intense undertaking that is either going to end in divorce, or we\u2019re gonna be more codependent than ever. And luckily it\u2019s the latter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether\u201d opens in theaters on Wednesday, July 30 from Neon<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In writer\/director Michael Shanks\u2018 \u201cTogether,\u201d Alison Brie and Dave Franco play Millie and Tim, a couple who are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[363,49,48,366,75,1554,337,12507,16022],"class_list":{"0":"post-32837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-alison-brie","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-dave-franco","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-film","14":"tag-movies","15":"tag-neon","16":"tag-together"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}