The cast and creative team behind the HBO Original The Franchise were at New York Comic Con, and Nerds and Beyond had a chance to sit down and chat about the new comedy series at the convention following its recent premiere.
The Franchise follows the crew of an unloved franchise movie fighting for their place in a savage and unruly cinematic universe. The comedy series shines a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking to ask: How exactly does the cinematic sausage get made?
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Nerds and Beyond: [To Aya] There’s a fun irony in you coming over to The Franchise from The Boys. That’s satire as well, but a different kind of satire. So what was this experience like for you, going from that world into this one?
Aya Cash: I mean, clearly I have a judgmental face. I get to dig a cast in things that are making fun of other things. No, it was great. Look, all the sets are bonkers, and I think that’s kind of what we’re showing. I feel like I got to send up my former co-workers, which is really fun, and they also all have a great sense of humor. So yeah, it’s been fun to be part of both. I love that it feels like there’s some crossover.
Nerds and Beyond: [On ‘The Franchise] You’re pretending to be working behind the scenes, so it looks like you’re on a film set … when you’re on a film set. How did you compartmentalize that to not confuse yourself and be able to stay in character?
Aya Cash: Well, I’m super method, so I was controlling everything. No. I don’t think about staying in character. But it definitely was confusing before you got to know everyone’s names, who was who. So you go up to someone and say, “Hey, where’s the bathroom?” to someone who you thought was a runner, and it turns out they’re just playing a runner. They had to do different lanyards. I wanted to watch the oner, and they put me on the set video village, not the actual video village. And I’m not allowed to be seen at that point, because I’m not in there, so I’m like trying to sneak off the actual set.
Nerds and Beyond: Did you feel any pressure portraying the people that were filming you?
Darren Goldstein: Just self-consciousness that you have as an actor, period. We always want to please the people that are employing us. I think that’s always what the first concerns deal with. But I don’t think it went past that into whether it’s authentic.
Aya Cash: Yeah, I also just had trust that people are pretty direct. People will tell you if you’re doing wrong. It would come back. You gotta assume, if nobody’s saying anything, it’s all going okay.
Nerds and Beyond: The show is a comedy, but there’s also a lot of heart. What are some of the key takeaways that you were hoping people — be it fans, film or television crews — would get out of it?
Aya Cash: I guess I don’t normally think about what people are going to take away. It’s more like (1) this should be entertaining as hell and (2) this is our real world. Even if some of it’s a little hyperbolic, some of it’s underplayed. Some of it, the truth is stranger than fiction. Anytime anyone makes any movie that is about something, and you are from that world. And you’re like, “Yeah, but her forehand sucks.” Like a tennis movie. So it’s fun for me to be like, “Oh, no, no, we come from this world. And now we’ll show you behind the curtain.”
Isaac Powell: I hope people take away that nothing is made poorly on purpose. Nobody sets out to make a bad thing. There’s always a cause-and-effect chain. There’s a reason the VFX might have sucked in that movie, or there’s a reason that the script might have been shit or something. But everybody’s trying to make the best thing possible.
Darren Goldstein: I don’t think this is ingested enough about how bad the people of Bat Girl felt. I mean, what are you talking about? From the business side, they do what they have to do. But the fact is, people pour in their heart and soul. It’s hard enough to have poor reviews or audiences don’t respond, but to not even get out there. That is just unbelievable. And it’s sitting there somewhere. There’s a finished movie somewhere.
The Franchise is now streaming on Max.
