Dave Franco could have picked out a stage name to go by, but when you strongly resemble the person that you’re trying to distance yourself from, it doesn’t make any sense! David Franco held onto his real name and he aspires to make it in Hollywood on his own merits. There are advantages and disadvantages to being the younger sibling of an Oscar nominated actor.
Dave had an interesting, lengthy Q&A with the Huffington Post where he explained that he understands what it means to be James Franco’s sibling.
On how being James’ brother helps: He helped me get a manager, which I don’t take for granted. It’s tough to get representation, let alone really good representation that cares about you. But from there on out, no one is going to hire me just because I’m James Franco’s little brother.
On how it hurts to have an A-list sibling: I think the way it hurt was when I was first starting out, I was like another new actor who didn’t really know what he was doing. Because of my last name, people were paying more attention to me and were actually remembering that I was so horrible. Rather than these other kids who did poorly in an audition, but the casting director never remembers them…So that was tough.
On high expectations: People had certain expectations of me. This is a business that you’re more likely not going to succeed in, and I think people almost expected me to succeed — which was another added pressure. So, I don’t know, it’s definitely been tough. As much as I love and respect my brother, I’m doing my best to distance myself from him and kind of show people that, even though we do look similar and have similar mannerisms, we are completely different.
When asked if he thinks his role in 21 Jump Street will help him to establish himself, he said “I hope so. I hope so.” We do too!
