{"id":346194,"date":"2025-08-15T09:37:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T09:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/346194\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T09:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T09:37:12","slug":"were-in-a-healthy-relationship-alison-brie-and-dave-franco-on-gruesome-body-horror-together-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/346194\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re in a healthy relationship!\u2019 Alison Brie and Dave Franco on gruesome body horror Together | Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave Franco is showing me his wounds: a bloody finger, a grazed foot, a palm full of blisters. On his phone, the actor zooms in on the photo collage he has compiled of the worst injuries he sustained on the set of Together, the romance-horror he stars in<\/a> alongside his wife, Alison Brie. She is not to be outdone. In one scene, Brie\u2019s character is propelled against a glass door by a mysterious force. During filming, it seemed as if her stunt double was walking up to the door \u201cvery slowly. I felt like it was not landing the beat,\u201d says the actor. \u201cI said: \u2018Let me just do it.\u2019 And that\u2019s what\u2019s in the movie, me running and slamming into the glass. Then, of course, I had a little bruise on my nose that we had to cover with makeup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franco and Brie were clearly willing to throw themselves\u00a0\u2013 literally \u2013 into the hugely entertaining film, which follows Tim and Millie, an unhappy couple who move to the countryside and begin experiencing a bizarre and nauseating fusion of their bodies. The pair also co-produced the film \u2013 the feature debut from the Australian writer-director Michael Shanks \u2013 and were instrumental in getting it made, which is why they are also pouring every ounce of energy into spreading the word.<\/p>\n

After its Sundance premiere generated significant hype and a reported $17m (\u00a313.7m) distribution deal<\/a>, Brie and Franco hit the US promotional trail hard: posing in a two-headed hoodie, answering questions while entertaining a swarm of rats (rodents feature heavily in the film) and turning their relationship into a comedy double act. At Together\u2019s London screening, they introduced the film with an anecdote about staring into each other\u2019s eyes while going to the toilet on set (they were conjoined by prosthetics for hours at a time during filming).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Watch the trailer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now lunchtime the day after\u00a0\u2013 the pair have flown in from Los Angeles for 48 hours \u2013 and Brie and Franco have been doing radio interviews all morning. Are they tired of talking? \u201cWe don\u2019t mind!\u201d says Franco. It\u2019s the most press they have done for any project, they admit, but \u201cno one\u2019s forcing us to do this. It\u2019s a low-budget independent film coming out in the middle of summer against these giant tentpoles and we just want to create awareness.\u201d Brie, who looks exceptionally glam in a black mini dress and matching black mini handbag, is an enthusiastic salesperson; Franco, sitting beside her in a knitted polo and high-waisted trousers, says he is much more shy. \u201cBut I think she brings me out of my shell in a good way.\u201d That said, Franco seems slightly on edge \u2013 at one point, he fiddles so much with a bottle-top that it flies across the table and hits me. \u201cHoney, please don\u2019t fling things at the journalist!\u201d jokes Brie, as Franco apologises profusely.<\/p>\n

Together doubles as a Rorschach test: the prospect of physically and psychologically merging with your romantic partner has divided viewers, say the pair. At the beginning, Tim and Millie\u2019s dynamic is civil but problematic; Millie is motherly and Tim avoids sex at all costs. But after he drinks from an underground pool, Tim becomes magnetically drawn to Millie \u2013 and whenever they touch, separating becomes extremely difficult.<\/p>\n

In one eye-popping scene, a quickie in a bathroom cubicle threatens to become a more permanent entanglement; later, a rusty saw is the only thing preventing them from transforming into a single entity. \u201cWe have talked to single people who say this is a very strong argument for staying single, and then we talked to a couple who were in a fight all week and the film actually helped them make up,\u201d says Franco.<\/p>\n

Brie and Franco with the film\u2019s director, Michael Shanks. Photograph: Robby Klein\/Getty Images for IMDb<\/p>\n

Some people find the ending \u201coptimistic and romantic\u201d. \u201cOthers find it horrifying,\u201d says Brie. How do its stars feel? \u201cWe find it optimistic. We\u2019re in a pretty healthy relationship. Pretty healthy?!\u201d They start laughing at this assessment of their marriage. \u201cHeal-thy,\u201d repeats Brie, in a comically overbearing fashion, as if she is attempting to convince her husband.<\/p>\n

From the start, Brie and Franco were aware their relationship would be Together\u2019s selling point. \u201cWe knew that the meta quality would enhance the movie,\u201d says Brie, who is best known for playing the goody-two-shoes student Annie Edison in the sitcom Community and the wrestler Ruth \u201cZoya the Destroya\u201d Wilder in the comedy drama Glow<\/a>. But they did worry about whether or not their real-life chemistry would translate to the screen. \u201cI think it would affect us if people were like: why are they even together?\u201d says Franco, who followed his big break in 21 Jump Street with starring roles in the frat pack comedy Neighbors and the magician-thriller franchise Now You See Me.<\/p>\n

Brie says performing their marriage for the public has been an \u201cinteresting sensation, because in some ways you feel like you\u2019re giving so much of yourselves away\u201d. It helps that the pair \u201cgenuinely love each other\u201d and have been together for 13 years. \u201cI think doing something like this if we had only been together a couple of years would have freaked me out,\u201d says Brie. \u201cWe\u2019re pretty private.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018In comedy, there\u2019s no room for vanity. It\u2019s the same in horror.\u2019 Photograph: Christian H\u00f6gstedt<\/p>\n

Still, they are digging deep. Brie, who rests her hand on Franco\u2019s knee for much of the interview, describes Together as \u201cdealing with monogamy and co-dependency and then extrapolating it to its most outrageous conclusion\u201d. Rather than becoming sick of the sight of each other, Brie realised after the shoot that the pair \u201chad become more co-dependent, because we were immediately separated\u201d \u2013 for work reasons \u2013 \u201cand I didn\u2019t like it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Technically, a co-dependent relationship involves one party sacrificing their wellbeing for the benefit of the other, but I think Brie and Franco just really like spending time together. What does being co-dependent mean to them? \u201cI\u00a0think it\u2019s more just being in the same space. What I miss the most is falling asleep next to you,\u201d says Franco, as Brie joins in, chorus-like, with the end of his sentence.<\/p>\n

Despite the interplay between Brie, Franco and their characters, Together was actually written about another couple: Shanks and his long-term partner. Tim, who sports the same hipster mullet as the director, was originally a \u201cdark shadow version\u201d of Shanks, says Franco. The film was a brutally self-deprecating portrait of a struggling artist (Tim is a musician) whose partner does a more socially responsible job (Millie is a teacher). \u201cBut he took that a little too far, to a point where my character was just an asshole\u00a0\u2013 you couldn\u2019t root for him in any way.\u201d The pair made Tim more sympathetic. They also Americanised the dialogue: \u201cThe boot becomes the trunk,\u201d says Brie. \u201cWe took out all the \u2018I reckons\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

We want to make horror films for ever\u2019 \u2026 Brie and Jeremy Allen White in Franco\u2019s directorial debut, The Rental. Photograph: Allyson Riggs\/Amazon Prime Video<\/p>\n

Franco describes Shanks as \u201cthe most confident first-time director ever\u201d. Yet he and Brie were still determined to protect him from the \u201cbullshit logistics\u201d of making a low-budget, tight-turnaround indie film. The couple were able to funnel the stress of being producers into playing the two increasingly disturbed protagonists. Shortly before shooting a scene in which Tim has a breakdown, they received the news that they were in\u00a0danger of losing a filming location. Then Shanks informed Franco that they had time for only one take, which prompted a panic attack. \u201cI said: roll the cameras quickly, I\u00a0want to use this for the scene!\u201d<\/p>\n

I think doing something like this if we had only been together a couple of years would have freaked me out<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The inadvertent method acting worked: Together is a sweaty nightmare of a film. But it\u2019s cartoonish as well as creepy, littered with jokes, callbacks and ludicrous imagery. Brie and Franco are most famous for their comedic chops\u00a0\u2013 something she doesn\u2019t think is fair. \u201cMy first job was on Mad Men, which I would consider a dramatic television show.\u201d She played Pete Campbell\u2019s wife, Trudy, in all seven seasons. \u201cBefore that, I studied theatre and was doing a lot more dramatic work \u2013 I didn\u2019t do improv or standup or any traditional comedy things.\u201d Didn\u2019t she work as a clown, though? \u201cYes, but I was like 17 years old, doing that with my theatre friends from high school. So that was more like a summer job.\u201d<\/p>\n

I point out that I was going to say comedic acting often seems trickier than dramatic acting. \u201cDefinitely,\u201d nods Brie, laughing at her volte face. \u201cI\u2019m like: we\u2019re not known for comedy \u2013 actually we are and it\u2019s much harder!\u201d Franco is keen to attribute his success in this field to \u201cthe funniest people in the world\u201d who took him under their wing, particularly the Neighbors star Seth Rogen, who recently cast Franco as a hilariously stupid and hedonistic version of himself in the Apple TV+ Hollywood satire The Studio<\/a> \u2013 a performance that bagged him an Emmy nomination. A sequence in which he goes from drug-addled mania, to saving the film studio, to complete collapse was an acting challenge that ordinarily would have intimidated him. \u201cBut Seth and his team had so much faith in me.\u201d Franco\u2019s voice begins to crack; his eyes redden. Brie puts her hand back on his knee. \u201cIt makes me emotional even talking about it,\u201d he\u00a0continues. \u201cI just feel proud to be a small part of their ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

For actors, horror and comedy have a lot in common, says Brie. \u201cIn comedy, there\u2019s no room for vanity. It\u2019s the same in horror, where it\u2019s all about playing the stakes: it\u2019s not glamorous, you\u2019re gonna look fucked up.\u201d One major difference between the genres, however, is their financial viability. It is harder than ever to get a small indie film made \u2013 for a comedy, close to impossible \u2013 while horror \u201cis the last remaining genre that draws people to the theatre outside of large tentpole movies\u201d, says Brie; amid all the IP-heavy content dominating cinemas, horror \u201cis where film-makers are getting to take the biggest risks and where the most unique stories are being told\u201d.<\/p>\n

Brie\u2019s next project is directing a \u201cfemale-forward\u201d horror movie. Franco\u2019s directorial debut, 2020\u2019s The Rental<\/a> \u2013 which starred Brie \u2013 was also a horror. As a big fan of the genre, \u201cit felt like the natural first step in going behind the camera\u201d, he says. \u201cWe want to keep going down this path and continue to make horror films for ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point, Franco seriously begins to flag. Brie alternates between finishing his sentences and cheering him on for completing a thought (\u201cYeah, you landed the plane!\u201d). \u201cSorry, I\u2019m so tired,\u201d laughs Franco. They have one last stretch of press to do, they say, at which point the happy couple can have a well-earned break from sharing their love \u2013 and rollicking brand of body horror \u2013 with the world.<\/p>\n

Together is in UK and Irish cinemas from 15 August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave Franco is showing me his wounds: a bloody finger, a grazed foot, a palm full of blisters.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-346194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115032112745284076","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}